


Hades

by PastPresentFiction



Category: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:53:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 26,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27944864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PastPresentFiction/pseuds/PastPresentFiction
Summary: If you're kept in a gilded cage, it's still a cage.  If you're called pretty names, you're still being called names that aren't your own.  Even if no one sees the marks, it doesn't mean they don't leave scars.Just because the stories exist to scare children, doesn't mean that the roots run deep and red with real blood.  Sometimes good is bad and bad is most certainly good.
Relationships: Hades (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore)/Original Female Character(s), Negan (Walking Dead)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Hades-The Jessa Notes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27951077) by [PastPresentFiction](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PastPresentFiction/pseuds/PastPresentFiction). 



> OK so I've been working on something serious (like, hopefully publishable/actually get to see on a bookshelf in a library and bookstore serious), but I'm still being plagued with things like this story.
> 
> I LOVE Greek mythology. I truly adore the myth of Persephone and Hades (I prefer the version where she was looking for adventure and found a bit more than she expected rather than the version that makes her a victim, but to each their own). 
> 
> When I began watching TWD, the more I watched Negan, the longer I listened to his scheming, his ideals, his version of the world as he imagined it, the more I had the notion that he'd make a real world Hades quite proud. And where there is Hades, there must be Persephone.
> 
> The names will be different, and yes, some very familiar faces will be popping in (see if you can catch them all- even if I change their names~neither fully Greek nor fully TWD, sorry) and I truly hope this plays out the way I'm hoping.
> 
> Thanks once again for reading my drabbles and dribbles.

I was lost. Totally, completely, absolutely, entirely, utterly hopelessly lost. I stared at the tattered, pilfered, useless map that had done me no good whatsoever in this failed rebellious attempt at independence.

  
My mother was going to be unbearable when they found me. Strike that, I sighed internally, flopping in a less than dignified lump onto the soft moss covered forest ground, when her people rescued me.

"Spring of my life." She'd whisper, the honey of the South dripping like venom from her lips. "Whatever shall I do with you, my sweet petal?" Nothing. At least nothing physical or above a ladylike simper of disapproval in front of witnesses.

  
No, Mother was well versed in the best ways and means to punish her "Spring" and" petal" to maximum effect with the least visible scars. At least where modesty was concerned.

  
Another sigh escaped me as I considered how far from home I might have managed in the full day I'd been gone. The map was older than I'd thought, clearly. The boundaries are no longer the same. Landmarks subtler. Or perhaps I was more sheltered than I'd allowed myself to realize.

  
"Who do we have here?" I hadn't heard footfalls, or horses. Nothing warned me that danger was near. Definitely too sheltered. I kept still and silent. fear was a factor, but breeding called for my quiet as well. I was an unaccompanied young woman of wealth. Silence was the only option for the moment.

  
He moved until he could look down on me from where I remained seated. I glanced up and saw that he was tall and angular with thinning hair and a moustache that my mother's head of security would internally mock. He was studying me, the map folded on my lap, the quality of my clothing, and then his eyes met mine.

  
"You don't look like a garden variety trespasser.” His eyes were squinting as though he were puzzling me out, "why are you here?"

  
I bit my lip, huffed out a breath and went with the truth. "I'm lost."

  
His eyebrow raised so high I was concerned it would break free, but it stayed put. "You're LOST?" Incredulous with a side dish of concern that I was addle brained. Great. "You want me to believe that you happened to stumble into- "

  
"Hey!" Another deep voice, coupled with a curse and a thump, then a slight thrashing sound and we were joined by another man. This one had longer hair, dirty blonde, and I had to bite back a gasp at the sight of the right side of his face. Puckered, red, ruined. He caught sight of me, still seated, and the man he seemed to know.

  
"Who's this?" I sighed, but luckily the other man answered for me.

  
"Says she's 'lost'." Nice. Air quotes. What next? He sighed. "Think we're going to have to take her to him."

  
The man with the ruined face looked at me with less interest and more pity than I felt comfortable experiencing. He took a deep breath, seeming to need fortification and offered me his hand in an oddly familiar and kind gesture.

13 Years Earlier

  
"Now, my blooming marigold." I was shaking as Mother spoke at me while her audience listened. Even at nine years old I knew that this was the appetizer. The main course would be savored in private. "I know that you didn't mean to insinuate that sitting through our Sunday garden party was anything other than of the utmost importance for the heir of the- "

  
When, by the tender age of nine you can recite the entire lecture of the responsibilities afforded to the heir of a southern agricultural kingdom, missing only the fill in the blank bits about which function or person you've possibly offended, there may be some issues in your family life. Not that I could grasp it. All I knew was that once again I'd been outed and after the public dressing down- I shook harder at the thought of what would come AFTER.

I was rather surprised that my new companions kept pace with me. I hadn't heard horses because they hadn't come on any. That meant I wasn’t so far from civilization as I'd first assumed.

  
"You insinuated," the scarred one nearly stumbled when my voice cut through the silence. "That I wasn't lost.” The balding man made a sound like a cross between a snort and a grunt so I went on. "You both found me while on foot." Another snort/grunt. "I suspect we're close to somewhere?''

  
I saw them share a look. It was so obvious they could have shouted it. Was I faking, stupid, or just really unlucky? "On the slimmest chance you are lost." I waited and they both seemed to be bracing themselves as the tree line started thinning. "Welcome to- "


	2. Chapter 2

“Hades,” it came out as a hushed breath. I’d heard the stories. What child alive hadn’t? The black stones that rose high enough that they seemed to brush the very clouds obscuring the plight of mere mortals from Zeus’ gaze on his realm below took my breath away. If I’d found the physical location of-- My eyes snapped shut. HIM.

I felt the younger scarred man’s sigh through the soles of my feet. “He’ll know we’re close.” No backing out now. And I didn’t want to test the validity of another bedtime story. I'd overheard a servant telling one of their children about HIS hellhounds’ ability to track escapees. 

Legs heavy with dread, heart hammering, I had a moment of mad hysteria thinking that my mother would take this time to remind me of her repeated warnings against my inquisitive nature and adventurous spirit. 

5 YEARS EARLIER

By some small grace, there wasn’t an audience when Betus carried me inside after finding me broken and bleeding beneath a tree that I’d climbed and fallen from. A grace, or so I’d thought.

“Sit my precious fragile leaf right there,” she gestured at the rug in front of the fireplace, then, smile tight, dismissed her head of security. “Never fear, B, I’ll get my little bud to bed without an ounce of trouble.” 

She’d been correct. She hadn’t felt an ounce of trouble as she had me crawl on my tender, bleeding knees, reminding me as the tears washed my cheeks free of dust and grime, as the carpet dug into the ripped skin on my palms, that I’d done the damage to myself. She was simply reinforcing the lesson. Driving it home, since I seemed to forget it so easily. If only, she offered, sipping her tea as she followed behind with a soft smile on her lips, I could remember WHO I was and WHAT my priorities and responsibilities should be.

She wouldn’t allow me to bathe or shower. I wasn’t to cleanse my wounds or change my clothes. No relief for the burning, tender skin. No bandages or ointment. No kisses or blowing of cool or warm air. None of the things that I’d seen our maids give to their children when they fell down. 

Instead, as she watched me crawl into bed, dirty clothes and still bleeding and raw skinned, she was smirking in the doorway. “Adventurers,” she was saying as she waited for me to get as comfortable as I could, “I’m told are supposed to ‘rough it’. We’ll see if you have the tough skin that seems to be required, my dainty violet.” And with a flick of her wrist the light was extinguished, the door locked from the outside, with only my thoughts and tears to lull me to sleep knowing that when I woke up, I’d be in for more pain since my wounds would be stuck to whatever linen I’d accidentally rolled against in my sleep.

I snapped back into the here and now when I heard the first growl. Then another. And then an echo. I stopped, the story of the hellhounds rushing back into the forefront of my mind. What if these two men were escapees and they scented us?

“Don’t be afraid,” the younger, scarred man offered. “He don’t bite, but he does slobber.”

No doubt, I thought, as the Mastiff sized dog cleared a shining onyx corner and I counted three heads. Three heads that looked strangely friendly even as the huge dog came rushing straight for me. 

“Whoa,” I had my hands up in what surely was a classic ‘stop’ gesture, but the overly exuberant puppy didn’t seem to have had that particular training. I was flat on my back before I had a chance to realize what happened, and all three of his tongues were giving me a very thorough bath.

“What tiny snack did you two find for Cerb?” A new voice, deep and amused called over the loud slobbering that the dog was giving me. “Down, Cerb, you’ll ruin your dinner and she’s hardly a single mouthful!”

Hands worked to pull the dog from me and once the excited pet was diverted, three heads gave a yelp and off the puppy ran in a different direction after a new toy. 

The blonde offered his hand to me again, and I gratefully accepted. I didn’t have a moment to consider the terrible state of my entire being after twenty-four hours of foot travel and five minutes of puppy mauling because Hades, far more imposing than my other two companions as studying me as though I’d just erupted fully formed out of seafoam.

“Than?” His eyes didn’t leave me, but he definitely wasn’t speaking to me. “Char?” The two men, which was which I hadn’t a clue, but these were their names, obviously. “Who is this that you’ve brought for an impromptu visit?”

His mouth said ‘visit’ much in the same way my mother would say it. Yet he wasn’t nearly as off putting. 

“I found her during rounds.” Than, the dark older one offered. “She was lost.” 

“And instead of showing her to the closest main thoroughfare, you chose to bring her to me?” A smile, not wholly unpleasant threatened to curl his lip. “Char, do you have anything to add?” 

The younger, scarred man shot me a side eye so uncomfortable that I knew something was coming that I didn’t want to hear. “Our rounds are routine. Even when we find trespassers it’s routine.” A nod to continue. “Than’s path? The one he had to have taken to come across her?” Another nod. “Completely overgrown. I mean, months of worth of growth.” The sound of him struggling where I had heard NOTHING when Than approached suddenly started to make sense and my eyes shut because I knew what was coming next. 

“That’s very interesting. Accelerated vegetation growth,” the smile wasn’t a threat any longer, it was a reality. And his attention was far more interested now. “Well, well. Hello, Princess.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, so I know that first chapter was a TEASE...so is this one..sue me. 
> 
> Yes, I'm being vague. Look I have to be. This one isn't as smack you straight in the face, because I'm working on it as it comes to me...bear with me.
> 
> Besides, I like this, I dig it...
> 
> Thanks for reading (and YES I do love it when I think of JDM's characters, particularly Negan for some fucking reason, calling any of my OC's princess)...


	3. Chapter 3

PRINCESS. That name, title, term, word is more hateful to me than ANY other word in the entire existence of language. Truly. Even hearing my mother call me her ‘tiny ticklish turnip’ would rank higher.

I glared at him and his smile grew. Forcing my eyes shut before things got out of my control. I tried to recall what Hes had told me to do when the world at large was threatening to force my powers to run amok, my natural abilities and urges to unleash and run wild. 

“Center yourself,” I could almost smell the burning firewood, see the warmth reflected in her earth brown eyes. “Think of how a flame needs kindling to grow, now starve your flame of the extra food, keep it bright enough to warm you, but small enough to control.” 

I could hear new voices reporting to the three men still standing near me. And from what I heard, I knew that I needed to stamp down the flames faster. 

“Vines have covered the entire south wall-”

“North lawn has gone completely black and a hole is growing-”

“Are those-”

“Pomegranates,” the whisper came from me, my eyes barely open, as I kept my mind on task. I could almost make out the fruit slowly growing and ripening on nearby where the plant hadn’t existed before. “I use them to focus when I get-” I stopped and shut my eyes again, trying to recall what the voices had said. The south wall had vines, the north lawn was dying, decaying and caving under the rot. As I considered what I’d heard, I could explain and try to reverse what my loss of control had wrought. “Overwhelmed. When I get overwhelmed, I have to focus.” Like I was on the vines that I couldn’t see, but I could feel. I imagined them sinking back, out of sight, waiting for the call from nature to grow where they’d be more welcome. As for the slowly growing sinkhole. “Give me a moment,” I muttered, knowing this called for less talk and more control. I could almost smell it, the dead plant matter, the decay of the earth, the way the ground was falling in on itself because of me. My attention moved to the moss that seemed determined to cover and coat the entire area surrounding Hades. Like a basket woven by a peasant woman, I let my mind weave it over and through the sifting dirt, pulling it together, acting as an adhesive and filling back in what I’d almost destroyed. 

When I felt like I’d fixed most of the worst of my destruction, I opened my eyes to see that only Hades remained. The fruit that I’d conjured was ripe, almost glowing in front of me and I was starving. I started forward, but his voice stopped me.

“Why are you here, Princess?” 

I sighed, but didn’t stop from taking one of the large warm fruits from the shrub to hold to my face and breath the fresh scent of it in. “Isn’t it almost magical how they feel so warm, even when they only just ripened?” Of course he had no experience in it, but I was always surprised by it. The warmth, the freshness, and honestly, all I wanted was the seeds to burst in my mouth to sate my thirst and hunger. “Do you have a knife?” I looked up to see him staring at me as if I’d lost my mind.

“Do I have a-” His mouth dropped open and he gaped. “Is this really the time to ask me for a knife?”

“I’m hungry, and I’d like to eat this,” I held up my fruit, shaking it a bit to show him that I had doubts about HIS sanity and intelligence too. “So yes, it IS the time to ask if you have a knife.” 

He blinked at me and then shook his head. I thought I heard a muttering word or two, but didn’t actually catch the gist of them. “Come along, Princess, let’s get you a knife so you can FINALLY explain your sudden appearance.” 

I followed behind him, and he DID NOT try to slow his pace for my shorter limbs. Irritation rolled off him like waves and I wondered if he’d spoken to his brother and my uncle recently. Probably NOT the best time to bring up more of our family, since I had no doubt we’d be hearing from my mother soon enough. 

Since he walked with the stride of a cyclops or a giant, I had little time to actually SEE Hades. For all I know there was moss on the ground and obsidian walls. No windows it seemed, and no doorways. And then, suddenly we were inside. It shouldn’t have been so disconcerting, my parents being who they are, but somehow it was, perhaps because I had the distinct feeling that I was no longer above ground.

“Are we IN the underworld now?” I asked, and he shot me a look over his shoulder as he continued his forward momentum. No answer. “I’m guessing a tour is out, then.” 

“Knife, answers, then we’ll discuss a tour, Princess.” He offered, and I sighed. Single-minded, this one. 

“Not much of a multitasker, are you?” It came out as I was trying my damnedest to look around and keep up with him. Wherever we were, it stretched on for miles. Dark walls, dark floors, indistinct, and vague. I was almost afraid to lose sight of him for fear that I’d be lost in the nothing. 

“We’ll discuss my strengths and weaknesses once we get-”

“Knife, answers, and a possible tour,” I repeated, quickening my pace as he seemed intent to see how fast my tiny legs could go. 

A kitchen? I was nearly panting when we reached it. Nearly, because while I was technically a goddess, I picked up the human frailties of those mortals my mother detested that I kept in my company. Hades moved with purpose even here, in this room, industrial sized, opening a drawer and pulling a large enough knife out. Instead of handing it to me, as I expected, he held out his hand. 

“I’m perfectly capable of cutting open my own fruit.” A standoff ensued, me holding tight to the pomegranate, him not relinquishing the knife. 

“You do know that I could just-” and then he did it, he flicked and the fruit was in his huge, long fingered hand. “Honestly, how often do you forget you HAVE powers?” I glared as he carefully cut my fruit in half and opened it for me, he set the halves down and was reaching into another drawer, for a spoon I realized, but I had one half in my hand and plucked a seed out with my fingertip. “Isn’t it easier with this-” he held up the spoon and I bit into my seed as his eyes landed on my mouth. I watched him swallow hard. 

The taste of a newly, fresh ripened pomegranate seed is something that I will never take for granted. However, having Hades watch me enjoy one, well that was a new thrill altogether. “It’s easier,” I agreed, once I’d swallowed the tiny bite. “But I couldn’t wait.” He moved closer and held out the spoon, but I countered by tilting the fruit toward him. “Would you like a bite?” 

“Are you trying to tempt me, Princess?” I smiled up at him and felt rewarded when he dipped the spoon into the flesh of the fruit and dug seeds. “You first,” he held the spoon for me, and I took a bite, eyes closing around a fuller bite. When I opened them, I watched him taking what was left into his own, and felt something wake up very deep down and low inside of me. Something intimate.

“Hades?” A redhead stood in the doorway, taller than me and willowy and the bubble that we’d created with a simple fruit popped. “I didn’t know you had a guest.” The way she said ‘guest’ made it sound more like ‘pest’. And I remembered the greeting I’d gotten from Cerberus and felt embarrassed by how I must look.

“Minthe,” he sighed, and looked down at his shoes like he was gathering his thoughts. “Could you have Than come to me?” She was staring a hole in me, but nodded. “I’ll speak with you in a moment.” Her smile looked triumphant and I felt a clawing urge to hop across the room and slap her face. She left with a sway of her narrow hips and we were alone again. “Than can show you to a guest room where you can get cleaned up.” Right, dog slobber and dirt. “We still have some things to discuss, Princess.” Of course, single minded with a purpose. 

Than wasn’t far, and I was given a gorgeous room that would have rivaled my own back- I sighed. I wouldn’t think of my mother’s house. Not right now. 

A hot bath, a change of clothing, and I smiled when I saw that there was a small bookshelf in the corner of the room. I found a book to divert myself with, and after getting comfortable on the bed, I opened it up, and promptly fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

“Honestly, Persephone.” 

Is it possible for a person to roll their eyes while they were asleep? I’d have to argue that it was, since I’m fairly certain I accomplished the feat myself. 

“Running away from home like a child.” And while I was pondering the physical possibilities or probabilities of dreamlands, how could my mother manage to elicit the same urge to squirm across the distance that existed between our physical beings? As far as I knew no god or goddess had that type of power during dream visits, not alone and she’d never consider-

“Kora,” technically I couldn’t close my eyes tighter, YET I felt myself attempting it. My father, king of the gods, called me by a pet name that only he deemed fitting. “Do you honestly think that Hades is a suitable getaway for a goddess of-”

“Life-” my mother snapped, daring to cut off her king, brother, and far more troubling for me to consider with the two of them sharing space in my dream, one time lover. “You give life, and Hades-”

“What,” I felt conflicted as his voice was added to my dream. Should allow the scream that seemed to have been building from the moment I heard my mother’s first soft sigh OR should I take a beat to find out if there was a hiring board somewhere to find a servant that’s ONLY duty was to announce guests' entrance at events? I digress, but Hades clearly did not. “What,” he had begun before my mind had gone on it’s tangent, “my darling sister, do I do?” 

Dream walking is extremely rude, at least among fellow deities, and as I waited for the next in a seemingly steady stream of ‘who’s who’ in my relatively short life, I was a half a beat away from pointing out just how impolite and crude they were all being by INVADING mine. I was diverted from my indignation, however, by a minute detail when my eyes landed on Hades and a white hot rage blinded me and made my blood boil to the point where waking up wasn’t an option, it simply was. And that effectively ended family night.

Glaring at the ceiling above the bed that I was lying prone on in Hades’ guest room, I worked to control two things. First I had to push out the image that had caused the anger to bubble up inside of me so quickly. The long, tapered fingers sliding around his chest, nails teasing at him, and I had a very good idea just who they belonged to. The second focus, the most important one, the one that I had a feeling that both Hades AND the owner of said fingers were learning I was focusing on currently would be controlling the call of MY nature. I knew they felt it, because I FELT it. The walls seemed to shake from the very NEED for GROWTH. For LIFE to take over. 

Exhaustion hit once the final tiny shiver ran through the walls. I’d managed, finally, to will all of it away. Somehow. 

When I woke up, it was to a quiet knock. Hesitant almost, and the room was as dim as it had been when I’d been shown to it the day before. As dim as it had been when I’d woke up from the dream visit, and I knew that the lack of windows and clocks and natural light was going to suck after a day or so. While the idea of pretending that time didn’t matter or exist sounds great in the abstract, in reality? Not so much.

I considered this as I tried to make my mouth form the words to tell whomever was making the muffled attempts at knocking to come in. I must have managed, because the door opened, and then I got a happy surprise FINALLY.

It took me far longer than it should have for my brain to acknowledge what my eyes were seeing, but once it all clicked into place, well, I TRULY hoped that Hades was TRYING to sleep nearby.

“HES!” The tone that came out of me would have scared an entire cauldron of bats from a pretty impressive distance. And the launch that I managed from the bed wasn’t something to sneeze at either. Her long ash colored braid whipped behind her and the warmth of her coffee like eyes locked on mine. “How-”

She shook her head with pursed lips. “Really? Seph, did you think MY brother would turn a blind eye to his KORA staying-”

“With YOUR other brother?” I smirked, too happy to have her company to push her back or away. “When do I have to leave?” It was inevitable. I couldn’t stay. I hadn’t meant to come after all. 

Her smile was warmer than if I’d had an entire pot of actual coffee to drink. “Whenever you choose to, Seph.” 

My father, overruling my mother, had sent Hestia to act as my chaperone during my impromptu vacation to my bachelor uncle’s realm. Image, Hes reminded me with an elaborate roll of her eyes and an accompanying sigh, was my mother’s greatest concern.

“Yet the incestuous, extramarital affair that resulted in yours truly-” I left it hanging, forcing Hes to bite her lip. “Has she chosen one, yet?” 

I’d gotten to my feet, needing movement, wanting to use my body for physical energy rather than have the underworld go full on greenhouse renovation. 

“She’s narrowed the list to a handful.” She watched me, knowing my tells and triggers better than me. 

“Anyone I-” another knock, this one more confident and louder. Stopping mid-pace, I opened the door to a startled Hades holding a tray nearly running over with food and drink. “Room service?”

He smiled down at me, a charming vision I guessed, but wasted on me. Save it for the little paramour, I thought. “I believe that’s my line, Princess.” I stepped aside to allow him entry and watched as he set his burden on a table that was tucked away in a corner and Hestia moved from the bed to take a gander at the offerings he’d brought. I wasn’t prepared when he took a seat for himself. “Aren’t you joining us?” He was staring at me over his shoulder and Hestia was shooting a foreign look as well from her own position at the table. 

His offer, the tone of it seemed like a dare to me. I almost rebuked it, and him, but Hes caught my eye from behind his wide shoulder, and gave a very subtle shake of her head and the slightest widening of her eyes, so I gave in with the grace of a martyr or a virgin being led to the pyre. Sitting, after Hades rose and held the empty chair nearest his own, as though the seat would burn as bright as the flames of said pyre I ignored the soft chuckle he released as he pushed the chair closer to the empty plate they’d set for me. 

Hades took his own seat, and as he gestured for me to choose my edible pleasures first, he and Hestia took a few quiet moments to play catch up. He wasn’t known for keeping in touch with his family, after all. 

Once I had what I found most desirable of what he’d brought along, Hestia filled hers, and his attention focused entirely on me. 

“I think you still have a question to answer for me, Princess.” His voice was low and quiet, and I noticed that Hes was pretending that she was very interested in a collection of soft cheese, even as her ears had almost visibly perked up.

I sighed, chewing the almond that I’d only just decided it was safe to attempt. Once I decided it was completely destroyed past the chance of becoming a choking hazard, I swallowed, then to prolong the inevitable, I took a LONG drink from the wine that he’d also been thoughtful enough to provide. 

“You’re stalling,” his lips quirked, and I rolled my eyes. “I have infinite patience and a memory that doesn’t lapse.” 

Another sigh and I sat down my cup. “I told you, I was lost.” Actually, Than had told him, but same difference, right? 

His gaze felt like it was trying to yank the truth from me, but I had told him it. “Why were you out on your own to begin with?” Alright, now that was an entirely different question, AND much more uncomfortable to answer.

“Wherever did you find-” Hestia diverted him, asking about an out of season delicacy that she adored, or was pretending she did. And for that, I gave silent thanks to everyone from my father to the River Styx.


	5. Chapter 5

I knew, even as Hades filled his own plate and allowed the conversation to move toward mundane and safer territory, that he hadn’t dismissed his interest in uncovering my reasons for being on my own travelling without parental knowledge or permission.

“-infinite patience and a memory that doesn’t lapse.” He’d warned me.

Once Hes and I were no longer pecking at the tempting morsels he’d provided, Hades insisted that his sister be shown her own rooms so she could rest. I opened my mouth to protest, but the words died as her mouth widened in the most unnatural yawn that I’d ever witnessed and guilt trampled the urge. Since he’d offered, I’d assumed that he intended to do the honors of escorting her, but he simply gathered the leavings of our meal, and opened the door to a waiting Minthe.

Her smile was a little too wide. A little too sweet and a little too- She took the tray, listened to the orders he gave dismissing her to her task of taking his dear sibling to the rooms her things had already been safely taken to, and then he turned back to me, ignoring the slight pinch at the corners of that smile that stayed, but looked far more strained.

“I only need a power nap,” Hes assured me, sighing. “The underworld’s timetable is a massive-”

“Watch it,” was I imagining the banter-like way they were interacting? Like the mortal servants that were in my mother’s service, they seemed to take pleasure in teasing one another. How different from the way I’d watched my parents speak to one another, or even how they communicated with me. “I’ll have you know that MY time keeps everyone looking-”

“Skeletal?” Hes raised her eyebrow and smirked. “You’re too thin, not that you were ever overly fluffy, but honestly, you’re looking positively ghastly.” She shook her head as another yawn overtook her ability to speak. “I’m off to bed, come on naiad, lead on, before I end up kipping in the corner like a common urchin.” I stifled a laugh at the horror that crossed Minthe’s face at the way Hestia spoke. Good luck, I thought, when she was tired and in need of a nap she could be a handful. “I’ll see the two of you in a wink. Behave.” I couldn’t tell if she meant me or him, but it seemed like a blanket warning. And then she was gone, and I was face to face with the god of the underworld.

“Now that my sister is tucked away, it’s time that we finished our chat, Princess.” How he made the simple chair at the table we’d eaten at look like a throne was a family trait. I knew this well, since both my parents shared it. I hadn’t moved, but I was feeling anything but comfortable and relaxed.

“That’s NOT my name.” I gritted out, finally having been called it one too many times. “And you KNOW it.” A tiny white petal fell from the ceiling and I shut my eyes. Control yourself, I breathed deeply, don’t allow it to get to you. Him, the title, the reminders.

“It’s not your name, BUT it IS what you are.” He argued, his voice low. I swallowed down the urge to let loose and allow the vines threatening to unfurl and grow, thorns and thicken, destroy the walls and let blooms blossom at will. “You do know I can undo whatever you manage to crack.”

I didn’t MEAN to, I swear it wasn’t intentional, but I heard his hiss and knew I’d done it. Again. My eyes snapped open and I swallowed as they landed on the top of his hand sitting on the table top. A tiny white flower bud had blossomed from the center point between wrist and middle knuckle. His eyes were locked on it, lips tight, and I took a beat before reaching out with a shaking hand.

“Don’t.” A warning, but I ignored it. He THOUGHT he could fix and undo my messes, but I knew the reality. I took a fortifying breath and leaned closer. Hades was as still as stone, as silent as a tomb, and I knew his eyes were now locked on ME.

“You can’t remove this,” it was barely above a breath, I doubted he would have heard me if I hadn’t been so close. “No one, not even Mother can remove my-” The tip of my finger stroked the silky petal and my lips curled into a soft, sad smile. I hated that beauty and growth could mean pain and destruction. Shutting my eyes, letting my fingertip move further inward, to the center where its seeds would have one day matured had it been rooted in the earth and NOT in the ruler of the underworld. Inhaling, an earthy scent, different from the one I associated with my mother, I sent the tiny bud away forever.

Hades’ sigh told me the flower was gone, and I prayed that he’d take his leave as well, but I wasn’t that lucky. “An extreme diversion, Persephone.” My eyes shot open and took in his smile. “I won’t be deterred.”

“At least you used my name,” an eye roll and a muttered “finally” tossed in for good measure had him chuckling. I sighed. “Why does it matter?”

He sat back, a long leg crossed over the other long leg, seemingly unconcerned now that his hand was flower free. He studied me and I took the time to study him.

Honestly, since Than and Char found me and brought me to Hades I hadn’t taken full stock of the god seated before me. Which seemed like a massive oversight now that we were alone.

I knew, from the incredibly short moment we shared in the kitchen, that he was at least a head taller than me. That wasn’t uncommon even among mortal men and women I was on the petite side. Hestia hadn’t been exaggerating when she said he was thin, angular would be a kinder term. The angles of his face were sharp under his carefully groomed facial hair, the same shades of greys, blacks, and whites as my father’s and Hestia’s hair. Short dark hair, eyes that shifted colors dependent on what I wasn’t quite certain of just yet, and a penchant for the color black in his wardrobe choices.

“If you’d rather not be misnamed as the god of death, perhaps you should stop dressing like an undertaker?” His smile twisted to a smirk and his eyebrow raised. I sighed and sat back. “Fine. I’ll answer your question.” I shrugged, pretending that I was unconcerned. Why not, since I planned on lying like Cerberus.

“You’re going to tell me why you were travelling alone, without my brother and sister knowing where and why you left?” To be fair, I thought, dear old Dad didn’t live with us, so it wasn’t like I left HIM. I nodded, no need to be nit picky. “I’m all ears.”

“I wasn’t planning on travelling alone.” He was watching me so intently that I considered getting up and walking around the room so I could put some distance between us, but I knew from experience with my mother that it could be interpreted as a sign of dishonesty. “I wanted to go for a walk. My companion, Melita, was supposed to come along, but she wasn’t feeling well.” Thanks to the tiny drop of milk thistle that accidentally found its way into her tea. “I chose to take a walk on my own and-”

“And somehow you ended up here?” How could his voice sound drier than a field during a drought? “Alone, with a map that’s older than you?” The map, I’d forgotten about that damn map. “I think you could do better than that, don’t you, Prin-” his eyes flickered to his hand and I smiled. “Persephone.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but a knock came to the door and instead of waiting for SOMEONE to grant access, the door swung open and my least favorite water sprite stood in the doorway with a smile on her face to remind Hades that he had a prior engagement. Saved by Minthe, would wonders NEVER cease?

Thought you might want to see the inspiration for Hades...Cause, well, UM:


	6. Chapter 6

1 Year Earlier

The garden in spring. Soft bloons in a riot of color surrounded me, allowing me to pretend at least for a moment, that I truly was a simple maiden as my father’s nickname insisted.

Nestled against a mossy boulder on a carpet of velvety grass, tucked away from any prying eyes, my senses were alight with the abundance of MY season. 

The scents of blooms long silenced by the frosts of winter mingled with the smells of fruits and vegetables ripening for feasts eagerly awaited. Colors in shades from the palest whites to the softest pink to the butteriest yellow ran on to darker hues, reminding me of season yet to come- deep greens, bloody reds, and blues so heavenly that I felt certain they would cause a pinch of envy from my own father. The sound of water tinkling over the smooth rocks of an unimpeded brook flowing through the garden being answered by the four fountains babbling within the walls lulled me into the security that I was alone and at peace.

It was so soothing and serene that I felt that I’d finally disappeared and been swallowed by the very nature that I was supposed to rule. That instead of being heir of spring and renewal, I’d BECOME it. 

Her voice ruined the dream, because it WAS my dream. Anything to NOT be here. With HER.

“There you are,” she sounded aggrieved, or normal. Mother usually sounded irritated, although I felt certain her followers and faithful felt differently. “Honestly, Persephone, do you think I have nothing better to do with my time than search the grounds for you?” She hadn’t searched, she’d simply concentrated and found me, but the reality didn’t suit her current irritation or narrative. “I told you we had an important matter to discuss today, and while the final day of the first month of spring is ‘important’ to you-” she was patronizing me. As always. While she wanted me to take my responsibilities seriously, she wanted me to do so HER way. On HER terms. By HER side. “Come along, I won’t discuss this on the ground like a common-”

We were in the solarium before she could REALLY get her full steam flowing. Seated, primly and properly, which always made me want to laugh. Demeter, goddess of the earth (if you’re being polite and do NOT want to be turned into a plant) or corn and grain (if you want to tempt fate, or my mother), didn’t like to actually sit on the ground or commune with nature. The irony. Once we were seated and a servant had served us tea, she dismissed the witnesses. 

Since my sixteenth year, I no longer trembled when the others left. At some point I realized that she enjoyed it. My fear, the terror that poured off of me, was fuel for her cruelty. She didn’t stop being cruel, far from it, but like Hestia had helped me learn to control my outburst displays of power, I learned to control how much she hurt me.

Mother sighed as she looked me over. I waited, knowing without a mirror what she saw. My hair, long enough to reach my waist when loose, the color of the sunset during springtime. In ringlets, but entwined with braids to keep it out of my face while I moved, she sniffed and I knew she didn’t approve of Mil’s handiwork. My outfit had her sucking her teeth so hard that I would have grown concerned if she wasn’t immortal and invulnerable. 

“I WAS spending the day in the garden, Mother,” I offered, taking a sip of my tea. Cutting her off before she could get started on my less than appropriate by her standards attire was the goal. “If you told me we’d be expecting guests, I’d have been in something else, or I would have changed before I greeted them.” She knew this, it was beaten into me from a VERY early age. 

“Always expect guests,” she hissed, and I had to fight rolling my eyes. “Always dress and appear ready for anything. You are a-”

“Goddess,” I supplied, bored already. I knew, trust me, I knew precisely what I was. That too had been beaten into me, repeatedly. “I know this, Mother.” 

“You are a PRINCESS. Your FATHER is-” I sighed, and she glared at me, looking for all the world like she was ready to slap me senseless and I had NO doubt she both wanted to, and would.

“I KNOW.” I stood up, too tired and frustrated to sit still. I needed to move, I’d seen the flutter of a white petal and knew she had as well. She LOVED when I lost control. It proved her point. “Could we, please, get to the point of this?” I waved around the solarium. “You said there was something we needed to discuss?”

She smirked, looking like she’d won, which should have warned me more than the first petal, more than her other pokes. That smirk should have told me to run, hard and fast.

“Yes, I did, my little precious PETAL.” My mother’s smirk grew into a smile. “It’s time we discuss your marriage.” 

  
  
  
  


Once Hades left with Minthe, who gave me a very smug smile in parting, I had enough time to reflect on the year it took to plan my great escape. I wasn’t certain I meant to leave my home forever, not really. I just needed breathing space, and as the months passed by, the urge grew.

It could have been the suitors my mother was going through. At first it seemed she had simply called in all minor gods who happened to be bachelors and jotted down their names. Then came the culling. I had no say. None. 

She mentioned, during private audiences between the two of us, names and statistics, but it wasn’t so I could chime in a preference, it was simple to allow me to know how hard she was working to assure her a healthy dynasty. 

“I simply cannot allow for the next generation to be sullied by inferior blood,” she muttered, crossing off a name that she deemed unworthy. 

“Perhaps Father could simply have a go?” I offered, stabbing my dinner with a little more vigor than required. “Worked for you, correct?” 

She glared and mentioned that my dinner was finished, and low and behold, my plate was cleared. 

  
  


I’d taken the map from Betus’ office. He’d had it in one of the drawers of his desk, and I made it a game of chance with the women who were tasked with keeping me company. Once I had the map, I made plans to take a walk with Mil, something I’d done a thousand times. To clear my head, or to see a tiny bit more of the world that I wasn’t allotted access to without a suitable chaperone along, only walks with my companions could be permitted. 

I once asked, when I was around twelve years old, why other children could play in villages without their mother or a guard along. Mother wasn’t present when I asked, but Mil’s mother was, and she’d glanced around like she was fearful of spies. I understood immediately, since I could do NOTHING without being tattled on, and leaned closer.

“Because, sweet Princess, your father is Zeus.” I nodded, brow furrowed. Of course, my father was Zeus. That was common knowledge. “Your father is a scoundrel of a god, he takes all forms and TAKES any woman he cares to, regardless of her consent. If you were your mother, would YOU allow you out without a guard?” 

I’d puzzled this riddle over and over in my mind. Mil’s mother hadn’t been overheard, and so she hadn’t been punished for telling me the upsetting reality of my father’s less than stellar reputation among mortal women, but I had to wonder why it mattered where me and my safety was concerned?

  
  
  


The tales of my father’s less than appropriate or welcome advances toward mortal women, often resulting in my half-siblings, became more known to me as I grew older. By the time I was planning my ‘escape’, I understood Mil’s mother’s warning. Zeus’ actions could come back on me. Not all mortals worshiped the ground we tread on, and not all looked upon the actions of the gods as favorable. 

Knowing this, knowing that I needed a break, even if it was a short one, I knew that I’d have to be careful, and that I needed to go alone. Regardless of the possible dangers. 

I truly hadn’t planned on leaving for good. A break, that’s all I wanted and needed. Separation from my mother’s constant stream of possible husbands, of events scheduled to parade me through the families of these suitors, whom I was given minimal contact with, and more reminders of how far from expectations I fell in her esteem. 

And so, after carefully gathering a very small amount of milk thistle, and taking more care to put only enough in Mil’s morning drink to cause her mild discomfort, enough to make a walk with me too miserable to attempt, off I’d gone. Alone. 

A full day, and apparently I’d gone farther than anticipated, farther than the damn map, farther than I wanted or expected simply through my lack of control. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t lost control before and had the unexpected happen, after all. Finding Hades, the place AND the god might be the most ambitious of my experiences, but it wasn’t completely unheard of, right? 

  
  
  


When the quiet knock sounded on my door, I smiled. Knowing that Hes was nearby, the sound wasn’t as foreign the second time around. When she entered, looking fresh and ready to take on the world, I felt content to have at least ONE person in my corner. 


	7. Chapter 7

Hestia insisted we go for a walk outside the rooms we’d been offered for use during our stay. I wanted to think it was because she was as curious about the underworld as me, but she was plucking an errant white petal from her cuff when she said it. 

I agreed, telling her that I hoped she had a better understanding of the layout than me, since I’d arrived in less than conventional methods.

“I heard,” her lips twisted into a rueful smirk. “I think the fact that you hadn’t packed,” her eyes roamed along the outfit I’d pieced together from what I’d found in the closet of the guest room, “spoke in your favor.”

Ah, yes. My parents. “I must have missed your arrival in my dream.” It came out harsher than I intended. “At least I would have been happy to see you.” A flash of Hades with Minthe’s long thin fingers sliding around his chest came unbidden to mind, but I smacked it away. 

We were walking down one of the many long dark corridors that seemed to make up Hades personal domain. As we moved, I noticed that the walls seemed to glitter like tiny stars had been embedded within the pitch black stone. They caught the light from our very bodies and mirrored it back to us.

“Diamonds,” Hes offered, seeing my gaze flicker toward them. “For the most part, at least. I think other precious gems are sprinkled in as well.”

I couldn’t stop the smile that this evoked. Like a tiny secret it pleased me far more than it should have and I wanted to know if there were others.

“Darkness gathers easily in the underworld,” she told me as we moved on at an easy pace, while she warmed to her role as a tour guide. “The shades don’t add light, not really, and the living aren’t welcome.” I nodded, the heroes' tales were pretty clear on those facts. “Even Hades’ symbol-”

“His Helm?” My father had a bolt, my other uncle a trident, and Hades a helmet. She nodded. “It allows him to disappear?”

“Mortals think it makes him go invisible. More cleverly, it cloaks him in darkness.” I looked around us, there were so many shadows, he could be in any one of them. She chuckled. “He hardly needs it here, Seph.” We kept walking, Hes telling me tidbits about Hades the god and Hades the place. 

Somehow she’d managed to find the way outside, and unlike how I’d come in, this was an entirely different landscape. “This is-”

“Hades,” her voice was quiet, reverent. “There are areas that I will not take you, Seph, you must understand that.” I nodded, my eyes trying to take in while my mind tried to process. “First off, I think they said you already met this guy-” I heard him before I saw him and this time I braced myself better.

He wasn’t growling, for that I was grateful, but this time he was excited because he knew I was easy to knock over and I was sweet. I still ended up on my backside, but this time he was slightly gentler, and I got to pet him and Hes helped manage him better. Cerberus was a huge, silly, sweet dog. Who happens to have three heads. 

“OK, you big goof,” she was laughing as she tugged him off me, finally freeing me from his slobbering heads and his nudging noses. “Let her up and I’ll give you treats.” That word was the magic one. Off he went, and she tossed three nuggets of who knew what and he went bounding after them. “He likes you.” She was chuckling as she helped me to my feet. 

“I know,” I sighed, thinking that once again I was covered head to toe in dog slobber, but happy that I got to cuddle with the dog. “He’s sweet, if a tad bit overzealous.”

She was still laughing as we walked along the perimeter of Hades home. The shore of a river was near at hand, and she stopped me from stepping closer. “I’m going to point things out from here, Seph.” Right, some parts were for seeing, not visiting. “This is the bank of the Styx.” Oh, that meant- “The gathering you see further downstream there?” I looked to where she pointed and could see a mass of bodies. “They’re waiting for the ferryman.” As we watched from our perch upstream and on a higher perch, I saw the boat cross back toward the side the crowd was waiting. My eyes widened as the ferryman’s hood fell back. “Charon, you know him as Char, I believe.” 

We watched the shades whose family had paid their passage approach and embarked on their journey while those whose families had not, or who had no family or friends could not pay for passage stood bereft on the shore. “Do they truly have to wait a hundred years?” 

“It depends,” Hes answered, moving further along our path. “There are benevolent moments, then the poor and friendless can get across.” I nodded and followed behind her. “Here, if you look there-” I could see where the boat had let the shades off, and now began judgement. Three judges sat, three possible sentences or endings for each shade. “Once judged, you know the possibilities.” A tilt of my head was her answer. “Behind the judges, that barren meadow?” 

“Yes?” I could see it, among the muted looking wheat were flickering images of people.

“The Fields of Asphodel.” Oh, the waiting place. Where mortals went when they didn’t do horrible things that deserved punishment, but also did nothing of worth that granted admission into Elysium. “Further behind, the glint of light you can see in the far distance?” I could see the hint of it, the promise. “The Isle of the Blessed.” 

“And Tartarus?”

“Better left off the tour,” came his voice, deep and dark. “Wouldn’t you agree, Sister?” 

I turned and there he was, unruffled, all in black and alone. I almost asked where his pet was, but thought better of it when I recalled that his actual pet had once again coated me in dog slobber. 

“Cerberus is quite friendly isn’t he?” I thought it best to head the embarrassment off at the pass. “Or he’s quite taken with the idea of me as a new chew toy.” 

He smiled down at me and for a brief moment, it was as though we were alone, even with the backdrop of the judgement of the dead behind us and with Hestia beside us. “How could he not be taken with you, Princess?” Hades’ eyes travelled the full length of me and I found myself swallowing hard. Why did it suddenly feel so warm and intimate? But of course it couldn’t last. “I think we were interrupted during our conversation earlier.” 

Damn it. I sighed, bubble burst once again, and a small white petal fluttered onto his shoulder. I wasn’t sure he noticed, but Hestia did. “Calm and steady.” She whispered, but I felt calm, and mostly steady. At least his hand wasn’t sprouting flowers. “Let’s go back inside, I’d like to see what other out of season delicacies you’ve got squirreled away.” He shook his head, but offered me his arm in clear assent. 

I took the offer as easily as I had my entire life with any number of other men. As we made our way back inside, he pointed out features of the underworld that Hestia missed. The other rivers, winding through the landscape, barren though it seemed and what each stood for and how they flowed. 

“If Char is Charon,” I wanted to be sure I was correct in an assumption that came to me when I’d seen the kinder of my ‘rescuers’ in their true forms. “Does that mean that Than is-”

“Thanatos?” He grinned down at me. “Yes, Persephone, the god of death found you and brought you to me.” I shook my head at the teasing tone the god of the underworld was taking with me. 

“As the giver of wealth, I’m surprised you chose to only embed small diamonds in the stones,” my eyes were sparkling with the twinkling stones as we walked through the corridors again, toward my rooms I imagined. He stopped at a large open threshold and my breath caught. Three stories of books and parchments. Golden fixtures with flickering flames, whether real or illusions I couldn’t tell, nor did I care, lit the library. 

“Perhaps a change of scenery will make the truth come easier, Princess?” I felt like my throat had gone completely dry with the urge to browse the stacks. Books, parchments, all of it was so tempting, but he steered me to a pair of chairs in front of an elaborate unlit fireplace even as my palm burned with yearning and curiosity. He chuckled as I took my seat with a resigned sigh. “You can have free reign as soon as our conversation is over, I promise.” 

Our eyes met and I was surprised at how they shined with humor. The god of the underworld had a sense of humor, who would have guessed? “Alright. Where were we?” 

“You, a very old map, and my doorstep-” he leaned back, crossing one of those dangerously long legs of his over the other and managed to look regal and comfortable at the same time. 

I nodded and sighed again. “I truly didn’t mean to come this far. I’m not even sure how far THIS far is.” The truth is the truth, and I’m sure he could HEAR it this time. “I needed a break. From-” I could see her, as clearly as if SHE sat in front of me in this dark ringed room, with a cup of tea at her side and the look she had that was half resigned disappointment and half disdain. “I’m to be married.”

Hades eyebrows raised in surprise. News to him, clearly. “Who’s the lucky god?” 

“I’m not sure Mother’s decided.” His breath came out in a hiss and I think he finally got it. “Since last spring, she’s been on the hunt. I think Artemis might want to take lessons from her.” I had to joke, otherwise I’d want to- I shut my eyes as three more petals fell. Taking a long steady breath, I focused, willing myself to calm down. 

“Should I worry about a shrub showing up in the library?” His voice was quiet, half mocking, half soothing, and I smiled. “Not that I mind a little updating or redecorating, just give me a heads up?” 

Opening my eyes, I saw him watching me from the same relaxed position he was in when I’d shut them. “Mother thinks that I allow my emotions to overcome myself on purpose.” I shook my head at the absurdity. “As though constantly cleaning up and destroying beauty is something I aspire to do.” 

“Demeter is choosing your husband?” I sniffed, but tipped my head. “My brother doesn’t get a say?” 

That earned him a laugh. “Father?” I stared at him in utter disbelief. “You think that Father would say a word to Mother about anything in regards to me and my existence?” He opened his mouth and I knew he was about to bring up the dream. “That was an anomaly, Father rarely, and I mean RARELY visits, much less offers his opinion where I’m concerned.” 

“So my sister will choose your suitor, he’ll pay you court-” more laughter. Oh he was almost adorable in his innocence.

“My mother will choose and I’ll marry him.” That was how this worked. “I’ve been paraded like livestock for their families, and for the men, I suppose, but courting? That isn’t necessary. Mother wants a purity of blood, grandchildren who will keep her line proud and elevate her something or another, honestly at some point I tend to daydream.” 

He was staring at me which was making me vaguely uncomfortable. “Your marriage will be no better than-”

“Than my fathers?” I smiled at him across the small distance that separated us. “Or Poseidon’s? Or Aphrodite’s?” I shook my head at how saddened he looked by the reality of our lot, as gods and goddesses, love and marriage were not part and parcel. “We are not part of a fairytale, Hades, we live in the real world. Our lives, our couplings, they’re not guided by our hearts, but by-”

“It’s ridiculous,” he muttered, his eyes leaving mine and staring at the lifeless fire. “That any of us should make do where marriage and family are concerned.” It didn’t seem like I was part of his conversation at all. “Haven’t any of us learned, after our parents, and our parents’ parents?” Ah yes, my grandparents and great-grandparents, the eternal struggle. “Stay here as long as you wish, Persephone,” he offered standing up. “I have to-” and then, more abruptly than he’d ever been with me, he was gone.


	8. Chapter 8

As tempting as losing myself in the stacks of books and parchments that populated Hades’ library was, I felt a bath calling my name. Not only to remove Cerberus’ latest greeting, but to wash off the reminder of our conversation. 

I walked back to my rooms, unsurprised that the route came to me easily, considering my words to Hades on the likelihood that our kind would ever be allowed to marry for reasons other than the gains of others. My father married the sister he’d deemed easiest to rule beside, and seeing how often my mother went against him on the simplest subjects I could see the logic behind his reasoning, even if Hera wasn’t exactly mild as milktoast. Hephaestus, my half brother and the one born with a less than attractive visage, was given the balm of Aphrodite as a wife. While her beauty could soothe those who had to come face to face with the two as a couple, he had to contend with the rampant cheating that Ares, my other half brother perpetuated with her. 

Our lives, the powers that flowed through the ichor that pumped in our veins, every single mark that showed that we were NOT human and mortal, all those things marked us for relationships that were firmly outside the realm of fairytale. Love? That was far too fanciful for the likes of us. Instead we bartered for bloodlines and power. I knew better than my siblings, better than my ancestors, because I watched the one attempt I’d made at love and romance turn to blood and despair.

  
  
  


2 Years Earlier

“Adonis?” A hiss, a breath barely, since it was twilight and I’d managed to sneak out without a chaperone. The garden was lit only by the stars and the sliver of moon that came before the new moon. “Adonis-” I nearly screamed when strong arms snaked out from behind one of the blooming bushes and pulled me into a firm chest. Then his lips brushed my bare shoulder and I relaxed into his touch. “You nearly caused me to-” 

He turned me to face him, and I had a glimpse of his golden skin and his hair bleached in the dim light before his mouth claimed mine with a hunger I was all too willing to return. My fingers wound through his curls and I smiled as his tongue touched mine. The taste of pomegranate juice, fresh and tart invaded my mouth and I had to fight down the urge to moan loudly. Getting caught wouldn’t do, not before we could taste far more than just our mouths. 

Adonis nipped at my lower lip as he cradled my body and lowered me to the soft grass underfoot. His fingertips teased at the hem of my short night dress as mine were pulling as his shirt. It took either an indecently short or a torturously long time to render one another completely bare beneath the night sky, but once we were, it took a breath to join perfectly and another to begin a dance that came easily and naturally. Our mouths swallowed anything louder than a breath, and our bodies memorized every inch of one another. 

He held me, cradled over his heart, as we came down from the explosion that came as effortlessly as breathing. 

“I want to tell her,” he whispered, his fingers tracing my shoulder to my wrist. “Seph, I want your mother to know that I love you.” I sighed, wanting it so badly that it hurt me deep inside, but fearing it as well. “I want to marry you, here in this garden, and know that I can make love to you in OUR bed.” I smiled thinking about what he was saying. 

“I love you,” I answered, another sigh slipping out. “She’s dangerous, you know that.”

“I know you think she is,” the argument I would forever have, and always lose. My mother’s danger, no one could see it, no one but me. “She’ll be happy that we found one another, that we love one another.”

  
  
  


I was in the bath, soaking away the day as the memory floated over me. Adonis’ warmth, like the water I was lying in, how his skin had felt. How firm and strong he’d been. How certain he was that Mother would be agreeable to our union. And how wrong he’d been. 

  
  


2 Years Earlier~ A Few Days Later

I could hear the sound, it was horrific and coming from the garden. The noise coupled by the screams, and I found myself rushing toward it, as though I knew. And I think I must have. 

The wild boar, how many different versions had I heard, had attacked. It had gone straight for him, for Adonis, my golden lover. And it had destroyed him in a fit of gore and splashes of blood, until Betus had seen enough and taken care of the beast, giving me the safety to rush forward and hold him as he took his final breaths. Watching him fade, watching the blood rush from his body, seeing him leave me forever, I’d felt the control leave me and the plant, the anemone erupted where his blood had spilled. Red as it had been, in remembrance of a love gone.    
  


When I looked up, cradling his ruined body, my mother’s face shined with triumph. She’d won. Again.

  
  


My head was against the lip of the bathtub, as I considered the day I gave up on love. With Adonis gone, I gave up the idea of true love. I’d given the fairytale an attempt, my mother had proved her point. 

It hadn’t escaped my, or Hestia’s, attention that when my control slipped the petals that fell or the flowers most likely to sprout were the white anemones. Red were mourning for me, white were rage or upset. Gods only knew what the violet ones would signify. 

I heard the soft knock and knew Hestia was back, calling out, I heard the door open. “I’m in the bath,” I offered, thinking that she could keep me company from behind the bathroom door.

“This should make the rest of our evening entertaining, Princess.” I considered whether my immortality would actually keep me alive underwater. I wasn’t Poseidon’s offspring so I didn’t have THOSE powers, and Hades’ voice was far too close to pretend that he was outside the bathroom door. “You did say to ‘enter’.” 

Kill me now, I begged, the Fates. Or Father. Or, why not? Mother?! Nothing. Not even a tiny little reprieve? Damn it. “I suppose I did.” I muttered, eyes closed, since I was fairly certain that the bubbles were LONG gone from the bath. “I thought you were-”

“Hestia?” He sounded amused and I was struck by how less than serious he was compared to his siblings and my own for that matter. “She’s still doing kitchen inventory I believe.” 

“She has a sweet tooth,” I offered, my chin touching the water. “The first offerings aren’t often dessert.” He chuckled. “You rushed off like your hair had caught fire,” I swallowed, hoping against hope that he was closer to the door than his voice had sounded. “I hope my presence isn’t keeping you from anything important.” 

“Not at all, Persephone.” I could swear that the vibrations of his tone rippled the water of my bath. “Do you need someone to wash your back?” My eyes shot open and I tilted my head back to see him kneeling beside me. Dear Zeus. “Even goddesses aren’t usually double jointed.” His eyes were the color of molten gold and I felt my breath catch and my mouth go dry at the same time. “Princess?” 

Think, Persephone, think. I swallowed, so loudly that I was embarrassed by the sound. I licked my lips, finding saliva somewhere and noticed his gaze follow the movement. I couldn’t make the connection between what he asked and how I SHOULD answer. 

I watched, almost baffled by my own hand, as it handed him the sponge I’d used to wash myself early into my cleansing. Did I imagine him taking his own deep breath? Or the slight twitch of his hand as he took it from me? I leaned forward, letting my cheek touch my knees and giving him access to my back. Biting my lip, my eyes fell shut as the sponge touched my skin first, gently swiping down my skin, but his hands were so large and his fingers so long and tapered that they were bound to make contact. 

Like stoking a flame into a roaring fire, each wipe that he took with the sponge, each time his fingers, or his knuckles, or any part of his hand touched my skin, the heat grew. And then he stopped. The sponge, and his hand, was gone. “I think-” his voice was further away, closer to the door. “I’ll wait in the other room while you get dressed.” His voice sounded different, choked and I hoped that meant that he felt whatever it was that I had, because if that had been one sided, what a pity. 

  
  
  


It took me a few minutes longer than normal. Since I wasn’t entirely sure I could stand immediately after he’d left. I needed to catch my breath, to take a moment to consider what just happened, and to think about what I wanted to do about it. 

I dressed, this time in my own things, because Hestia had packed my own things prior to coming to me. She’d brought the bags with her when she came in the first time, but I was so overcome with seeing her that I hadn’t paid the slightest attention to such trivial matters. It felt nice to be in my own clothes, with my own toiletries, even if I was on uncertain footing with the ruler of this particular domain. 

After brushing my hair and leaving it down, I would have to see if Hestia and I could work magic together to tame it further, I ventured into the main room to see just what Hades planned for our evening. He was seated on the bed, his back against the headboard, pillows cushioning his back with his shoes kicked off. I TRULY hoped he wasn’t rushing straight for THAT as our entertainment. 

“That suits you far better than what you had on earlier.” He was studying me, and I very nearly squirmed under the intensity. It was one of my favorite dresses, strapless, long and the base was black and flowy with watercolor touches in white, pink, and red. Cinched waist, with my hair down, I wondered just how well it actually did suit me. “I would have thought a goddess and princess of life and spring would choose lighter colors.” 

“Even in spring comes the night,” I offered, moving closer. “You wanted to talk?” I wasn’t sure that’s what he wanted, or what I wanted, seeing him lounging on my bed, no matter my earlier insecurities. 

“Tell me about Adonis.” My heart lurched. “Please?” My eyes were burning and my vision was becoming blurred from the threat of tears.

“You want a fairytale that ends in a horror story?” I wished, so badly, that I could mask my emotions like my mother seemed so adept at. “I told you, Hades, we live in a different reality. We don’t get fairytales.” 

“Tell me how your faith was ruined, Princess,” he asked, holding out his hand. “Tell me so I can help you regain it.” 

I shook my head. “You can’t.” And yet, as though I were powerless to deny him, my hand fell into his and I let him pull me onto the bed beside him. “I’ll tell you, Hades, not because you can fix it, but so you can see that not everything is fixable.” 


	9. Chapter 9

Hades listened, he didn’t interrupt and I didn’t embellish. I didn’t tell him details, I didn’t offer him salacious nuggets. The bare bones, how I met Adonis, through Aphrodite when she brought him along during a visit with Demeter as part of her envoy. How our eyes had met and how he’d slipped away to find me and Mil in the garden, with guards watching like eagles for impropriety.

“He thought the way the flowers opened and fluttered when I walked past was magical,” my smile came unbidden, sad, but sure. I could see the azure of his eyes in the dazzling sunlight, the tan of his skin, and the ripples of his muscles. “Adonis asked questions that no one else did,” Hades listened, not interrupting, even as I felt his interest grow through the tension in his body, the length next to mine. “He wanted to know if I had to touch each seed to make it grow, or if I had to THINK about each blossom to make it come alive.” He had been like a child, his interest so vast and needy. “If I had limits, if the colors that a flower could bloom into were limited to what was known, or if I could choose new on a whim?” I’d laughed, and he told me it sounded like music to him. He made me forget the guards, forget Mil, forget my mother. 

“How often,” I’d forgotten Hades, I realized, flinching when his deep voice brought me out of my memories. “How often did he visit?”

I sighed, thinking about how that had been the true turning point. “He asked to stay on,” he petitioned to join my mother’s staff, to pledge loyalty to her service. “Mother is always more than willing to recruit from other gods and goddesses.” With him closer, a part of our household, the meetings and assignations more frequently arranged. From flirtations to touching, from touching to kissing, from kissing to intimacy. The intimacy made my father’s pet name for me wrong, so very wrong, but I would hardly have wanted to broach the topic. 

“Demeter found out?” His voice, pulling me from the garden, the starlight and Adonis’ touch to the bed in his domain. 

“I became too confident in my own cleverness,” biting my lip I refused to let the pain overwhelm me, the grief of the loss of him slam into me again. “I let myself believe that somehow THIS time the eavesdroppers and the guards would miss it. That our LOVE would somehow hide us and protect us from her wrath.” I shook my head at my simpleness. “A childish idea. When the boar killed him, she was there, and I knew when she saw me holding his lifeless body and covered in his blood that she felt she’d proven her point to me. Her terms, my life and my relationships would be decided on HER terms.” 

“Are you sure that it was-” I snorted, a less than ladylike, much less goddess-like sound. 

“I see you’ve heard the rumors.” So had I. “Then you’ve heard that the boar was sent by a jealous Artemis because she was jealous of Adonis’ hunter prowess.” I shook my head again. “He was a wonderful hunter, I cannot deny it, but not enough to anger my sister to such an extent as that. There’s the idea that Aphrodite sent it, she’s known for showing her displeasure when slighted by attractive suitors. Adonis was one of a dozen men who came with her the day they came to the meeting with Mother, while I wouldn’t put it past her, I can’t see it being her. Nor my brother Ares, after all, he’s far more hands on isn’t he? No, my mother, while she might not have done it herself, she had it done. She wanted me to understand my place in the hierarchy. And it is a lesson I feel I learned quite well.”

“Did your issues with-” He stopped and I waited, thinking I might know what he was going to ask, but wanting to give him the chance to ask in his own way. “Your powers? The control that seems to get out of hand, did that become more of a problem after-”

“After Adonis died?” I turned to see that he was staring straight ahead. In profile Hades was all sharp lines and shadows. I considered his question, one that I had assumed was coming. “Mother wasn’t what most would consider a hands on teacher, she said that her powers came to her as innate knowledge and as such, so would mine. My emotions have always been up and down and-”

“Understandable,” he murmured, and I could see his jaw clench. “But the issues got worse, didn’t they? After?”

I swallowed, thinking about how bad they had gotten in that year between Adonis and Mother’s announcement. It had taken the final months, the full month of Spring having been the only real reprieve that I’d felt from the moment I’d held his dying form, for Hes to help me reign in my out of control powers. And the year since, while working on finding a way to take a break, to walk away for a true breather, I’d spent perfecting it or trying to. 

“When he died,” I could feel how thick his blood had felt coating my skin, how warm and thick it was, how it seemed like I could FEEL his life flowing from him in rivets. “Something broke, snapped inside.” While the anemone flower grew where the blood splashed onto the ground, the rest of the garden withered in spots. The dark hole that I had to work hard to fix when I’d first arrived in Hades, started to eat away at several spots in the garden. Chaos unleashed as my mother’s smirk grew. 

“And yet, you’ve worked to regain the control.” I murmured my agreement. “Why can’t you work to regain your faith in romance and love?” The laugh that came to me was without a hint of humor, causing him to turn so he was facing me. 

“Haven’t you been paying attention?” My head was shaking and my lips were smirking. “She won, Hades, she gets to pick and I get to be the ‘perfect petal of a daughter’.” 

His face drew closer to mine, his eyes darker than the golden color they’d been in the bathroom, now more espresso dark. When he spoke, his breath was warm and yet the scent of it was cool like spearmint on my lips. “Didn’t I ask for you to let me help you?” I didn’t get a chance to answer because his lips, somehow hot and cool at the same time touched mine and the very breath left me. 

If I’d thought his fingers, hands, and knuckles brushing against my back when he offered his assistance during my bath was fanning the flames, then this, his lips on mine? This ignited a bonfire with a vat of ale and a torch. My mouth opened under his and then our tongues touched and I was on his lap. His hands were touching the skin kept bare by the cut of my dress and my fingers were tangled in his hair. Another flick of his tongue and I was under him, as he pulled away, his eyes completely black and both of us panting with need. 

“That wasn’t what I’d-” he was tracing my kiss tender lower lip with his thumb. “Nothing about you is what I expect, Persephone.” And then he was lowering his head again, but before his mouth could claim mine, a knock came to the door.


	10. Chapter 10

The knock stopped Hades descent, but neither of us made a sound to tell whomever was knocking that their presence was welcome. I wanted nothing more than to ignore the noise, quiet yet incessant, to get lost in the temptation of his mouth, to let the craving that his touch had started to flourish, to see if he was correct, if I could move past the dullness that had taken over when Adonis’ bright fire had been extinguished. 

“Tell me to stop, Princess,” was he begging me? Was the ruler of the underworld pleading with me, a simple lower tier goddess of spring? “Persephone?” His breath, far from making me want to push him away, made me want to see just how much he could truly heal me. His eyes closed as my fingertips traced the lines of his face, so sharp in shadows, yet so soft under my skin. “Please-”

“Hades,” his name fell from my lips like honey and a prayer dripping with sweetness and yearning. “Do YOU want to stop?” 

His eyes flashed open, molten and fiery and I sighed in triumph when the knocking stopped or it finally lost focus for both of us and his mouth claimed mine again. If Hades expected me to give him strength to fight the temptation to give in to whatever this was, I moaned as his tongue danced with mine, then he had chosen the wrong partner. His arms, longer by far than my own, were tugging at the loose fabric of my dress, pulling it up my legs as I was pulling at his shirt. One purpose, from my fear that it was what he expected when I’d found him waiting for me on the bed, to being the only thing I could THINK of, we were single minded. 

When his fingers, long and hot, finally touched my bare skin I arched into the feeling and smiled into the deepening kiss we were sharing when I felt his muscles twitch under my fingertips. I had to pull my mouth free, if only to yank the shirt off of him, and then, seeing him shirtless I bit my lip wanting so badly to take the time to appreciate this version of him. 

“You’re always so-” He held himself still so my fingers could explore the planes of his chest, touching the lines, teasing the soft dark hair, tracing the ‘v’ that I knew would lead me to my own personal Isle of the Blessed. “Head to toe in physical shadows,” I breathed, my fingers dipping under the waist of his pants earning me a hiss of breath from between his lips. “I want to see Hades,” my hands met in the middle, working together to undo his fastenings. “ALL of Hades.”

He’d told me, not so long ago, was it really just hours earlier, that he had infinite patience. Hades proved that it wasn’t an idle comment. He held himself immobile as my fingers worked to open his pants, helping when he saw a need for it, rolling onto his back to allow me to have full reign when he realized that I wanted to truly explore his realm. 

His skin wasn’t as pale as I’d assumed it would be, given the dark clothing, the lack of natural light the physical location of the underworld offered. It wasn’t golden tinged as Adonis had been, but the ichor that ran through his veins, coupled with the time he spent on earthside must have helped keep away the death pallor that the stories and paintings imagined. The darkness of the dusting of body hair gave the angles and planes more depth, taking the thinness of his frame from skeletal to toned and lean. 

“What do you see, Persephone?” His voice was so quiet, so low, so deep that it felt like it came from the very core of the earth. His eyes were liquid shadows and all I wanted, all I could think of was having him. Now.

“You,” his hands reached for me, and it was his turn to unwrap me, moving the tangle of my hair to hang over one shoulder so he could unzip my dress and then pull it free from my body, as his mouth traced a path down my spine. 

“Every inch of you,” he murmured against my skin. “Every single inch is like-” he sighed, and then inhaled the very scent of me. My dress fell away, like the petals of a flower after its bloom died. Hades turned me, lying me carefully down where he’d lain moments before as he pulled my dress carefully from my legs so it wouldn’t tear. And then, as I’d studied him, he took the time to drink in the image of my naked form before him. 

I swallowed hard as his eyes roved down the full length of me. My sigh released when his fingers finally touched my ankle, the other hand meeting my other ankle, pulling my legs slightly apart so he could move between them, and then sliding both hands up my outer legs, smiling at the gooseflesh that formed from the barest touch. “Hades,” I admonished, and a smirk formed on his lips. “I thought you didn’t torture anyone in the underworld.” 

His soft chuckle vibrated the bed before his body lowered to cover me, bare flesh meeting bare flesh and the laughter died. My arms wrapped around his neck, my fingers sliding through his hair from the nape of his neck upward. Our eyes were locked together, questions clear as day, but nowhere as important as the need we both felt. “I want you, Princess,” he sounded shocked by it, as shocked as I felt. “Tell me to stop.” 

“No,” and his lips touched mine even as my legs wrapped around his waist and he understood, without another word, that it would take more than a plea from him to make me ask him to stop now. 

Sex with Hades was, pardon the expression, earth shattering. Once I refused to put a stop to it, to ask him to stop, I unleashed a passion that I’d NEVER felt before. While I’d thought that Adonis and I had experienced something magical, what Hades and I brought out of one another was something entirely different.

Since there were no windows, or clocks, I couldn’t tell you how long we went at it. I can tell you that I lost track of how many times I felt myself rush over the edge, how often I cried out for him, for release. I can tell you that he came along with me more often than not, and that when we finally seemed sated, we were both ravenous and thirsty. 

Our bodies were sweat glistened, our limbs tangled, and I was more than certain that my hair would require expert level grooming services to tame again. Hades was holding me, my head cradled over his heart, his finger tracing a pattern along my arm. 

“I-” Hades had tried to begin a conversation several times now, but kept stopping, and I was starting to feel rather frightened. He sighed, his breath fanning the top of my head. “Persephone, when I said I wanted to help you find your faith in-”

He regretted it, I realized. Not the sex, he was male after all, but he probably assumed that as a younger woman/goddess that the first male I have sex with after Adonis would automatically be the love of my life. A tiny voice inside of me reminded me of how I had felt like what we shared had left what Adonis and I had a hazy memory, but I shook that voice off like a minor irritant. Not now. Right now I had a face to save. 

“You helped me remember how to ride a bike, Hades,” I offered, pulling away and unwinding my legs from his. I smiled down at him like we’d only shared a pleasant afternoon in a book club. “I’m sure my future husband will be happy to see that I haven’t forgotten the mechanics of it.” I slid off the bed and walked with my head held high to the bathroom. “I’ll leave you to get dressed, I think another bath is in order.” I shut and locked the door behind me this time. 

I started the water, and as it filled, stared at myself in the mirror. Minthe was still waiting in the wings, Persephone, I reminded myself. Who knew how long that had been going on? And he’s technically MY uncle, not that that mattered in the tangled family tree that I occupied, but it was true. Add in my lovely parents, and well, would I want to make it more than a one time thing? No. I shut my eyes and took a deep breath. I had a one time thing with the king of the underworld, big deal, now I could enjoy my vacation and go home to see who my mother picked out for me to spend the rest of my immortal life chained to.


	11. Chapter 11

My second bath of the day, or at least I supposed it was the second of the same day, the timeless prospect of Hades wasn’t something I aspired to enjoy ever so I supposed the temporariness of my stay had that going for it, wasn’t as long as the first. I didn’t soak or soothe myself. It was simply to clean myself and was perfunctory at best. 

I was hungry and thirsty. I wanted to see Hestia and I wanted to explore the library. And most of all, I wanted to pretend that Hades the man and I were simply acquaintances and nothing more. A petal drifted down and into my hair as I was yanking a brush through the tangled mass of it forcing a long heavy sigh from my lips. 

Control, Persephone. Control. I shut my eyes and took a deep breath when the knock came to the door of my room. Soft, quiet. Hes. 

“I came by earlier,” she was looking around the room, the mussed bed, my favorite dress in a bunch on the floor and my hair still half brushed with an errant white petal clinging to it. “I thought you might have been napping, but now-”

I sighed, again. “Are you here to lecture, or help?” She shook her head and held her hand out, I handed her the brush and sat down in one of the chairs from the table. “It was a one off,” why was I explaining? Because Hestia wasn’t my mother, and she listened and gave good advice. “A one time thing, and now that it’s out of my system-”

“You said it was a one time thing twice,” she offered, being more gentle with my scalp than I had been. “Are you convincing me, or yourself?” She plucked the petal free and reminded me to focus and remain calm while I did it. “Hades isn’t the worst of the worst, Seph.” 

I snorted, sure, alright. “Have you ever listened to the stories they tell their children about him?” Mortals, our servants, the people who worship us, all fear him. His shadows, his realm. “It’s not just that, he-” I sighed, again. “He didn’t mean for it to happen and he has buyer’s remorse.” 

“Did he say that?” She’d worked the tangles free and was twisting and braiding as easily as Mil would have at home, Hestia was a goddess of many talents. “Did my brother, the god of many words, actually tell you that he wished he hadn’t had you?” 

I said nothing, he hadn’t, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t thought it. “Regardless, I don’t get to choose, Hes, you know that.”

“I know that Zeus told me to come stay with you here,” she offered, tugging carefully to get my hair to behave. “I know that he has as much say in your future as my sister, no matter what YOU or SHE thinks on the matter.” I could feel her adding something to my hair, but without a mirror I couldn’t see what it was. “And I know that Hades has been asking for more information about you since Thanatos and Charon showed up with you. He probably knows more about you than I do.” 

“I doubt that,” I muttered, and she giggled. “Have you managed to make my hair look less like the nesting grounds of an eagle?” 

“Oh, I think so,” she smiled down at me. “Go have a look.” She gestured to the bathroom, the nearest mirror. 

How she’d done it I have no idea. She’d created art out of my mass of curls, the braids were twisted and bundled. Curls dangled, but the entirety of it was up and out of the way. I’d replaced the dress he’d removed with a light blouse and a pair of loose fitting pants, comfortable and very casual, something my mother would find completely inappropriate for public viewing. Slip on flat shoes completed my look and with Hestia beside me, we went off to explore the library that had been my first temptation.

Hestia grabbed her tome easily, as though she’d chosen it earlier, and then tucked herself into the chair Hades had sat in during our conversation before. I took my time, letting my fingertip dance along spines, reading titles and thinking of how long it would take me to truly enjoy all that the library had to offer. 

Books about heroes, adventures and causes long past, intermixed with histories of our ancestors. Uranus, Gaia, Rhea, Cronus, all of the titans and the tales of their loves, losses, and ideals. Parchments that shined with knowledge of animals, minerals, and flora that I had never seen nor imagined. 

The feeling, creeping along my spine like cold fingers, that I was being watched, came at odd moments. When I was pulling a book free from a high shelf, just out of reach and thinking that perhaps I should pause and go for the ladder nearby, but then it was close enough for my fingers to grip it and pull it to me. Or when I was bent over a parchment studying a flower so strangely made that I was puzzled over how it could grow, and the tendril curls that brushed my cheek suddenly moved as if by a breeze or a hand. When I turned, no one was near me, and there wasn’t a window of course, so no breeze could be found. 

Happy with my book, promising myself that I’d come back again before my stay was over, I joined Hestia by the fireplace. “Shall we have another meal in my rooms-” she wasn’t alone, I realized a moment too late. Like a shadow made solid, he sat comfortably with her and I was brought up short. He was staring at me with a look that was daring me to do something, but I was hard pressed to know what. “Hades.” I greeted him, he was our host after all. 

“I came to invite you to dine with me,” his voice, the same voice that had moaned my name such a short time ago, sounded so benign that I could almost pretend it hadn’t happened. If only his eyes, molten caramel again, weren’t reminding me of all the moments he’d coaxed my mouth to offer his own up in answer. “I thought you might like a change of scenery.” 

I couldn’t look away, to check with Hestia how I should respond, he was so magnetic. Instead, I clutched the book I’d chosen to my chest as though it were armor, and I waited. Perhaps silence would finally earn me some solace. 

“It’s settled then, dinner with me, Princess.” He stood, staring down at me, and I felt like the world was tilting on its axis. “This look,” I swallowed hard when his finger slid under the thin strap of my top, “also very you, Persephone.” Hades tone was so quiet that I wondered if Hes could hear him. “I think we have something new to talk about, don’t you?” 

And then, like the last time we were in the library, he vanished. I stood gasping like I’d run miles without rest and wondered just what he thought we needed to discuss now. 

Hestia was staring at me with a smile when I managed to focus on her. “It would appear that my brother isn’t having as much-what did you call it? Buyer’s remorse?” Her book was resting in her lap and she looked quite smug. “He’s taken with you, Seph.” 

I huffed out a laugh, hoping that I sounded as unconcerned as I was trying to sound. “He’s playing a game, I just don’t know what it is.” I sighed. “Is dinner formal in Hades?” Her smile seemed to be permanent and I was forced to fight against rolling my eyes. “Should we change?” 

“Oh, I’m NOT having dinner with the two of you,” if possible the grin grew. “Hades is having some of the choicest little delicacies he could find sent to my rooms as a gift. Dinner is a private AFFAIR.” Hestia stood, tucking her book under her arm and pulling her to me with her free one. “Let’s go get you ready, Princess. I do believe you have a date.”


	12. Chapter 12

A date. I had a date with Hades. I was still attempting to work the very idea of it through my brain as Hestia dug through the clothes she’d packed for me and through what was in the closet of my room. 

“I saw this in the very back of your closet,” she pulled it from a separate garment bag and I sighed. Mil had found it at a stall during one of the festivals and convinced me to buy it. It wasn’t something I’d normally wear, but I had to admit it was a gorgeous dress. “Were you saving it for something special?” 

“No,” I shook my head, the dress was red and black, silk and lace, and beautiful. “Mil picked it out. Isn’t it too-” I wasn’t sure what it was too of exactly. 

Hestia shook her head. “It’s perfect.” She removed it from it’s hanger and told me to choose a set of lingerie that wouldn’t show while she made certain there were no wrinkles or tears in the fabric. 

Once I had my first layer in place, she helped me pull the dress over my head and settled it down my length. My hair, still in the same twisted braiding that she’d worked it into before our trip to the library, aided in setting off the cut of the dress and how much of my skin it kept bare. She helped me into my shoes, since flats simply wouldn’t do with the skirt, and then stood back to take in the entire vision.

“Dear gods, Persephone, you’re stunning.” Hestia breathed, and I knew it wasn’t false praise, because she was nothing if not honest. 

“Thank you,” I bit my lip. “I just don’t quite see the point.” Hades was flirting, and we had sex, and I was hellbent on a break from my mother. Aside from that, why bother playing dress up? 

“The point,” she muttered, turning me toward the door so she could frog march me out of my room. “Is so you can see the world is bigger than you think it is.” She patted me on my bottom and pointed in the direction of the library. “Down that way, meet him in the library, I have a meal to get to.” Another swat on my behind and I rolled my eyes as she hustled off on the promise of sweets while I walked toward uncertainty. Because I knew the world was bigger than I had experienced. It didn’t make the likelihood that I’d get to see more of it any more likely, did it?

My foot hadn’t stepped past the threshold of the library when his fingers touched my bare elbow. “Princess?” My eyes shut at the sound of his voice, the depth of it, the timbre. “How is it you manage to take my breath away with every costume change?” 

When I looked up, I wasn’t disappointed. His eyes, still the honeyed brown that warmed me through, were staring down at me. He traded his all black attire for a touch of smokey grey in the shirt he wore under a black suit jacket. “I think you might not be mistaken for the god of death tonight, Hades,” my fingers touched the collar of his shirt and he inhaled audibly. “Are we eating in the library?” I pulled my hand away, thinking perhaps I should keep my fingers to myself. 

His smirk grew into a smile and I shut my eyes at what my words could be construed as offering. “I thought the dining room, Persephone,” the light pressure of his fingers on my elbow steered me away from the library and I was forced to open my eyes or stumble. “At least for dinner, maybe I’ll have dessert in the library.” 

Hades’ dining room was far larger than I felt was warranted for the amount he entertained. The table reminded me of home, at least the length of it, with the multitude of chairs, the walls were the same obsidian as the rest of the building and twinkled with the same embedded gems. 

“No art?” I glanced around with the same curiosity that filled me every time I was gifted with a new room or area to explore. “You’re the god of wealth, Hades, yet you put none on display.” He steered me toward the chair to the right of the head of the table, holding it so I could sit, and leaning down as he pushed it in for me. 

“Perhaps, Princess, I just haven’t found the right piece to showcase,” his fingertip brushed the same curl that moved in the library earlier and my breath caught. “I think I prefer your hair like this, at least in public.” His lips were close enough to my ear that his breath teased my skin, wrecking havoc on my ability to form words. “I hope you’re hungry, Persephone.” 

I felt something uncoil deep inside of me when he spoke, a hunger that was for more than just food, even if I was starving. The urge to climb across the table, once he seated himself at the head of it, to crawl toward him and offer myself as dinner, dessert, and all things in between was almost overwhelming. I felt almost unbearably hot, and thirsty, so very thirsty. 

“White or red?” The question caught me off guard. I blinked, and found him smirking at me. “Persephone? Are you alright?” He sounded far too innocent and it made me feel as if he knew precisely what I’d been thinking about, where my mind had been. “Do you prefer red wine or white?” 

Wine, of course, dinner. “White,” a breath, only loud enough for him to hear, but he was the only one present, wasn’t he? The goblets appeared, full and near our hands. Of course, unlike my mother who preferred the mortal faithful, Hades would have shades or the invisible. “Should I ask?” An eyebrow arched and I smiled around the rim of my glass. “Who waits on us, Hades?” 

He shook his head, but his amused expression didn’t leave him. “Are you always so curious?” I nodded as I sipped. “You’ve seen the shore?” Another nod. “A way to earn passage-” he left the explanation hanging because it was easily understood. “What other questions are filling that beautiful head of yours?” 

I bit my lip as our plates appeared. Taking a look I smiled again, the delicate meal wasn’t something I would have necessarily picked for the god seated with me. “You don’t entertain much-” I stopped, needed to taste something, not simply because of the temptation of it, but because I was still ravenous from earlier. The flavor was amazing and it stopped my interrogation of Hades. 

“That’s not a question, Persephone.” He picked up his own fork. “I don’t, but I also don’t think that’s all that shocking to you.” His tone was dry, as dry as the red wine filling his glass. 

“Then why do you have this table?” I studied him as he chewed his own bite. The way he was working through not only the food, but his answer. “This table, this room, the entire building-” I inhaled to try to gather my thoughts so they could make some sense and took a drink for a shot of courage. “My father, my mother, they do it too, and with Father it makes a smidgen of sense I suppose, but-”

Hades chuckle had my eyes searching out his. “Habit.” He shook his head. “Habit or-” A long sigh and another shake of his head. “We’re creatures of habit, Princess, and we’re braggarts and egotists. Each and every single one of my siblings wants to be the ruler of our tiny piece of the pie.” He gestured around his. “I know what they say about mine, short end of the stick, unlucky bastard.” He chuckled again and his eyes seemed to twinkle like the gems in the walls. “I rule the underworld, Persephone. I keep the dead where they should be, but I don’t punish, I don’t torture. I give them a path to judgement.” As if on cue my glass refilled and he smiled. “I rule over the riches of the world, an oversight on my brothers’ part, don’t think I don’t know it, but that doesn’t matter. I still rule it.” He reached out his hand and like a magnet I laid mine inside it. “You want to know why I have this palace, this room, and the opulence if I share it with no one?” I nodded. “Because, Persephone, just because I didn’t have someone to share it with when I first built it doesn’t mean I didn’t hope to find someone one day.” 

“Oh,” I knew he could hear the pounding of my heart, because I felt certain that the judges on the other side of the Styx could hear it. “And have you?”


	13. Chapter 13

Hades didn’t answer me, instead he squeezed my hand and reminded me to eat. “You’re going to need your strength, Princess.” Whatever had uncoiled when he asked me if I was hungry purred at that, and I bit my lip as I pulled my hand away and returned to eating. 

Since he’d seemed willing to answer my insatiable need for knowledge, I kept asking questions. “Your helm-” he smirked around the bite he had just taken. “Hestia implied that you needn’t use it here, but I wonder-” our eyes met and his smirk grew into a smile. “You were in the library earlier.”

“You left me with little choice, Persephone.” He watched me over the rim of his glass. “I think my sister leaves you so little room for defiance with her that you choose to exercise it in spades with me.” My mouth dropped open, I didn’t- did I? “You walked away before I had the chance to finish my thought earlier, before we could talk about-”

“Your regret?” My eyes dropped to my plate. I couldn’t have been wrong, he regretted it, this- The dinner, the flirtations, whatever this was- it was a game, right? 

“You think I regret-” he groaned so loudly that the table vibrated. “I will throttle her for embedding this belief you have that-” I looked up, shocked by his vehemence. “Have you ever seen yourself, Princess?” I started to nod, but he waved it away. “REALLY truly seen yourself? The way Adonis saw you, the way I see you?” I stared at him, feeling like there had to be something coming to temper the words. A ‘but’ coming. “I haven’t seen how the flowers open and flutter when you walk, Persephone, but I have felt the very walls tremble when you’re angry and I have seen the petals fall from nowhere like snow or ash when you lose control.” My breath caught because he didn’t sound as if he wanted to change me, but as if he was as taken by me and my quirks as Adonis had been. “The way the moss color of your eyes glow at the thought of the first taste of a freshly grown and ripened pomegranate seed, how could anyone regret having you, or wanting to have more of you, Persephone?” 

Why did I feel like I had been running? I’d been seated this entire time, yet my heart was pounding, my pulse throbbing, and I wanted him so badly that- But I couldn’t. We couldn’t. My mother wouldn’t allow this to go on. Not past whatever tiny temporary stay I was allowed in Hades. “I should-” I stood up, and he stood too. “Thank you for dinner, but-” 

“Don’t.” The same quiet tone he’d used when he tried to keep me from touching the flower I’d caused to burst from his hand. “Don’t give her the power she craves, Princess.” I bent my head to stare at the now bare table, taking a beat to marvel at the efficiency of those souls who wanted passage to judgement. His faith in me and my ability to fight against my mother made me laugh, the thought that I could do more than take a break from her was hilarious. 

“Oh, Hades,” I looked up to find that he’d moved closer and within kissing distance. “How are you of all gods so innocent?” 

I stood still as his hand cupped my face, letting his thumb trace my full lower lip. “How are you, goddess of life, spring, and fertility so very unsure of your own power?” His mouth met mine and I fell into the taste of him. 

As it had been in my room, once our mouths touched, our hands seemed to go everywhere. Working toward a singular purpose, together yet separate, our skin was bared and if we’d been hungry for food, it was nothing to how we felt for one another’s bare flesh. 

“How is it you taste so-” I murmured against his neck as my fingers were once again working to free him from his pants. I would never be able to come up with the perfect description for what Hades tasted like, it was so perfectly him.

My dress was a tangle on the floor and his hands were like a brand on my skin as his tongue was teasing one hardened bud under the lace of my bra. “Your skin tastes like sunshine,” he breathed, moaning as my hands found him at last. 

Any earlier questions about the length of the dining room table were pushed aside by the gratitude both of us felt for it when we were joined on the surface of it. Me on top of the ruler of the underworld as he sat up our foreheads together as we came together with one another’s name on our lips. We were panting, even gods and goddesses get winded, shaking and completely amazed by how undone we could become at the hands of the other. 

“You are far more powerful than you know,” he whispered, eyes locked on mine. “And I want you to stay.” 

My heart lurched. “She’ll unleash her wrath, Hades.” Another warning, another lover. I felt the same fear rise up within me, the same need to protect. “You stay so far out of the family nonsense, you don’t know-”

‘That Demeter can be more horrible than Hera?” He sighed and leaned his face closer, still holding me on his lap, straddling him, our foreheads came together again. “Don’t forget, Persephone, I’m not mortal.” Like Adonis, I knew he didn’t want to invoke his ghost, but he also wanted to remind me that HE wasn’t as fragile. His hands came up to frame my face. “I love you, Princess, and I will not allow my sister to stand between us. Do you hear me?” 

He loved me? Hades loved me. Did I love him? Did it matter? 

We dressed, Hades was far more demonstrative with his affection than one might assume for the ruler of the underworld. His fingertips would stray from his own buttons and fabric to trace down my arm, or my spine, his lips would meet the nape of my neck or his teeth would graze my shoulder. Any doubt that he felt something for me was trampled easily by his actions. Clearly he was infatuated with me, but LOVE? 

Walking down the corridor, Hades had me tucked into his body, and I couldn’t deny that I liked the way it felt. The strength of him, the warmth, the scent of his body wrapped around me like a blanket. It wasn’t until we entered a room that wasn’t the one I slept in the one and only time I’d slept since I arrived that I pulled away, question ready on my lips.

“It’s my room,” he answered, leaning against the door. “Well, OUR room, if you agree.” 

I looked around the room, which was much larger than the guest room I’d been given. The bed was hung with curtains that looked like smoke and shadows, always shadows. Unlike the other parts of the palace that I’d seen, this room had touches of color. Ruby reds, emerald greens, sapphire blues here and there, veins of minerals slithering through the walls like water or oil weaving through the black. The floor was piled with furs, their softness I could feel even through the soles of my heels, a table tucked into a corner much like the room I’d been given. A bookshelf, standard in Hades realm, was also hovering nearby. 

“You’d have freedom to add or change anything you’d wish to,” Hades sounded unsure, and I bit my lip, wishing so badly to absolve him of the uncertainty, but feeling my own building. “I want you to be happy here, Persephone, with me.” 

Turning back, I found him still pressed against his door. I considered what he was offering, all of it, him, marriage, queendom. If I accepted, if I took what he was giving me, Mother be damned, what else came with it? An image came to mind, something that made one of his reminders of my power so prophetic, and I sighed. Minthe.

“What is it?” He looked frightened, and a part of me wished I could capture it, just in case and so I could show mortal children that even the god of the underworld has fears as well. 

“Do you know what my father is most known for among mortals?” I pulled a chair from the table out and took a seat. Since we seemed to be hashing out the circumstances of our relationship as it were, why shouldn’t I be comfortable? Hades studied me, not answering so I went on. “He’s known as a cad. A god who will stop at nothing to take, sexually, any person he wishes to.” Still nothing from the god of shadows. “Now, I haven’t heard the same about you, but Poseidon has a bit of a reputation as well, so you have to admit that your speech about being ‘creatures of habit’ might give me a bit of a pause.” 

“Minthe.” He spit out the name like it befouled his very being and I felt the same. “She snuck into the-” He let his head fall back and I heard the knock of it when it hit the door. “She means nothing to me, Persephone, nothing. She was before-”

“Where is she now, Hades?” My head tilted, watching him as he processed my question. “At his very moment, where is Minthe?” 

“In the Cocytus, it’s her-” I nodded. “I’ll make it absolutely clear to her that what was is no longer-”

I nodded and stood up. “That’s a start,” I moved toward the door and him. Looking up at him I couldn’t stop myself from touching him if I’d wanted to, my fingers seemed to have a mind of their own, going under his shirt in search of his skin. “I want you, Hades, now.” 

He was more than happy to put off his chat with Minthe for a much more agreeable exercise, and he was also very excited to show me all of the reasons why OUR rooms were far better accommodations than the ones I’d been given.


	14. Chapter 14

“Honestly, Persephone,” the urge to scream built up inside of me until I nearly let it loose, but I felt a strange calmness, like the warmth of true spring come over me, removing the first strains of my mother’s voice. “You’ve been gone barely three days and you’re in Hades’ bed?” 

“Am I to expect a visit everytime I close my eyes, Mother?” I was impressed by how bored and unconcerned I managed to sound. “If I am, then perhaps I’ll make sure that he’s prepared to join us.” 

“I’m right here, love.” Hades, his long fingers slid around my waist and pulled me into his side. “Demeter, to what do WE owe the pleasure of ANOTHER visit so soon after the last?” I smiled as his lips brushed my temple. 

My mother’s eyes, so very different from my own, dark brown and flat like the earth that the grain she governed flourished in, flashed at the ease with which Hades was holding me in the dream realm. “Do you honestly think that THIS will be allowed?” She gestured toward the two of us, nose crinkled as if we were mating in the middle of Greece. “I will choose her husband, brother, Zeus and I-”

“I think you’ll find that OUR brother has had a change of heart,” Hades interrupted, his hand tightening around my waist holding me closer. “Once I showed more interest in my lovely niece, Zeus, seeing her joined with me in marriage would be a far greater match than ANY you could possibly hope to propose he agreed that if Persephone wasn’t opposed-” he left it hanging, and with it put the decision in my hands. Damn it. 

My mother’s smile grew knowingly. “Oh, my little limp leaf will choose wisely, I’m more than sure of that.” Her eyes were zeroed in on mine and I narrowed mine. This woman, my own mother, had murdered my first love. She wanted nothing more than to choose a man who I would have no say whatsoever for me to spend my immortal life with, but I was currently lying in a bed beside a god who unleashed more passion from me than I had ever felt before, even with that first lover. How dare she? I felt the rumble, whether real or in the dream world, my power becoming unhinged, again, and her smile grew. “Now, now, little one-”

“Don’t.” I stole Hades’ line, and I said it in his tone as well. Her eyes widened. “I’m staying.” From wide to narrow, her eyes were the first sign that she understood what I was saying, that my decision wasn’t what she expected. “My choice, Mother, take it up with Father.” And with that, another rumble and a tumble of white petals and I woke up to Hades’ lips on my shoulder.

“You’re fine,” he was whispering, soothing me, as I came fully awake. “The shaking was all dream internalized,” my eyes opened and took in his form hovering over me. “See, no petals, Persephone.” I wasn’t looking at or for petals, I was staring at HIM. His eyes, back to the lightest color they’d go, almost the shade of our ichor, gold and gleaming in the dimness of our room. Hades was so busy making certain I was alright and assured in my own safety, that he didn’t notice my hand brushing his errant hair from his forehead, or when I traced the lines of his face again, committing them to memory. 

“You do love me, don’t you?” I swallowed as he stopped speaking, his smile taking over where his words failed. “How did it happen so-”

His arms were on either side of my head, holding his weight off of me, but his hands, those long fingers of his could still touch my skin. “I don’t know.” His eyes seemed to be memorizing me as much as my fingertips were doing him. “I hadn’t planned on it happening, Princess. But here we are. I know you need time,” he licked his lips, but his eyes never left mine. “To play catch up, I’ll wait, Persephone.” 

My fingers slid around his head, through the dark curls, giving me a flash of how he was dark and shadow where Adonis had been sunshine and light, and I smiled when he let me pull his face to mine. “I think I’m all caught up, Hades,” I teased, nudging his nose with mine, letting my breath fan his lips. “Kiss me.” Showing me just who ruled which part of the kingdom of the underworld, Hades gave me my wish, moaning into the warmth of my mouth and helping me work up another need for rest.

I was wearing one of his shirts, long enough to cover me to my knees, when we went back to the guest room to get me dressed for breakfast with Hestia. Hades could shadow travel, and I could travel beyond the walking, running, and riding of a normal mortal as well, as seen by my arrival IN Hades. That didn’t mean that I did it often, or felt that it was warranted for any reason whatsoever.

Hades found this stance adorable. “When I asked you if you forgot you had powers, Persephone, I had meant it as a joke.” He was smirking as I opened his closet and flicked through the offerings. “I could just-” he flickered as I stood in front of him and rolled my eyes. “Really?” He sighed. “Fine, but what are you doing in my closet?” 

“You don’t honestly think I’m wearing the dress that’s a wrinkled heap back to the room do you?” I raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “We may only be sharing this palace with the unfortunates who are working for passage across the Styx, but I do have an image to maintain.” His chuckle vibrated almost as well as my own powers could. I sighed as I took in the offerings in his closet. “Did you honestly wear the ONLY shirt that isn’t BLACK last night?” 

He picked it up off the chair where I’d tossed it when I pulled it from his body and handed it to me. “My queen,” he bowed and I shook my head, but took it. “So you’re planning on wearing MY shirt back to your rooms to pack as if you aren’t a goddess?” 

“Yes.” I pulled the shirt over my head and smiled at him when I saw that his eyes had darkened. “And if you’re lucky, Hades,” I smoothed the shirt down over my bare thighs. “I just MIGHT let you take this shirt off me and redress me before we have breakfast.” 

He groaned, but somehow managed to dress himself and walk along with me to the guest rooms. I didn’t ‘pack’ as a mortal might, pulling a casual outfit out first, then with a focused effort sending my things to OUR rooms. I started to dress, but Hades stopped me. “I do believe I was promised this treat, Princess.” 

“Princess?” I looked up at him from under my lashes. “Didn’t you call me your queen earlier?” 

“Cart before the horse on my part, Persephone,” his fingers were at the hem of the shirt I was wearing. He pulled it slowly up my body, teasing my skin with the lightest touch of his fingers. “I should have said ‘my FUTURE queen’.” He tugged the shirt off of me and dropped it to the floor. “Choices, choices.” He murmured, staring at me in my bra and panty set. 

“What choices are those, Hades?” My breath caught in my throat when our eyes met and I saw how dark his had grown. 

“Do I-” his fingertip traced down my collarbone to my breastbone. “Cover up the art that my FUTURE queen told me I don’t display in this huge empty palace of mine?” He lowered his face so his nose followed the same path as his finger took. “Or should I WORSHIP at the altar of that art before I cover it?” My eyes fluttered closed as his lips teased my skin, not kissing, not tasting, just touching. “What do you think, Persephone?” What? I tried to find the thread of conversation that I’d clearly dropped. “Cover or worship?” His mouth was on my pulse point and I was panting. “Now or later, Princess?” 

I didn’t get a chance to answer, a knock, as familiar as my own name came before I could force my mouth to form words. Hades growled his irritation against my skin at being interrupted at his play, but I felt gifted with a reprieve, but I wasn’t sure why when he stepped away and I was fully dressed without his hands or mine being involved. 

Hes was waiting with knowing eyes and a smile that said she had an earful from my mother no doubt. “Are we going to have breakfast or whatever meal is due at whatever godforsaken time it is in this-” Hades glared at his sister and her smile turned smirk. “You know I’m right, Persephone has to know the changing of the hours. If for no other reasons than for the damn seasons,” she reached out and pulled my hand in hers. “Come on, I’m starving.”

We ate in the dining room, at the same table that I’d ridden Hades mere hours before, a memory that I knew flashed through both of us because his hand met mine and he bit his lip. The souls brought juices, platters of foods for our choosing, and plates for us to fill on our own. We couldn’t see them, but knowing that they would use this as a path to their eventual judgement had a few new questions spring to mind. I added them to a growing list, one that I wanted to broach with Hades in private. 

“When do the wedding bells ring?” Hes was asking, as she piled her plate high with fruits and pastries. “I’m certain that all of Olympus is just ripe with the gossip.” 

Ugh, Father’s realm, the seat of his power at least. All those clucking gods and goddesses, my half siblings. “I have a loose end or two to tie up,” Hades offered, eyes on mine, letting me know he hadn’t forgotten Minthe or his promise to me to make her aware that their time had come to an end. “I imagine that Persephone has a vision of what her wedding day should look like.” 

I would have snorted, truly I would have, how ridiculous the very thought I found it. “I think you’ll find that I don’t.” I sighed into my juice. “Until very recently I had no say, Hades, why would I have a vision?” His jaw was tight, so tight that I would have feared for his teeth if he’d been human. 

“Then we’ll have to create one,” Hestia offered, putting out a forest fire before it could ignite the entire world. “It’s not everyday that the underworld and spring unite, is it?” 

Hades was called away, by Than, after our meal. He pulled me to him, smouldering down at me and my breath caught again. “I won’t be long, Persephone,” he used his thumb to tilt my face up to his. “And I plan on finishing what I was interrupted doing before-” our smiles melded into our kiss and I knew that I made the right choice. With him by my side I could face anything, including my mother.


	15. Chapter 15

Hestia took me to the library, a place she knew would keep me occupied. “Your hair held up well under what I imagine was considerable strain,” I smirked as I studied the parchment that had looked so fascinating to me before. “I told you this trip would open your horizons, Seph.” I laughed, shaking my head.

“You’re incorrigible.” My finger traced the stem of the flower, so alien to me. “Do you think that this plant truly existed before?” She came to look over my shoulder. “I don’t see how it could have, so low to the ground, the leaves-” 

“Anything is possible,” she muttered with a shrug. “I’m hardly the goddess to ask.” She pulled another delicate slip free. “Oh-” I glanced at what she’d found. It was a gown, and my eyes followed the lines. “This is, Seph, this is your gown.” 

“Hardly,” yet I moved closer, angling my head so I could study the pattern better. The gown was something that I had never seen before. It looked like it was made of flattened flowers sewn together, held up by nothing I could discern, the colors weren’t chosen since the pattern was in monochrome, and aside from the blossoms, there was nothing else that would shield the wearer’s skin or body from the eyes of whomever saw her in it. “What would it even be created with?” There were no notes on fabrics or materials, no ideas about how it would be made manifest. 

“Are you asking for my suggestions?” I tilted my head and she smiled. “Silk, with gemstone accents. Using gossamer, something shimmery between the silk flowers and gemstones, so the underlying treasures are hinted at, but not overt.” Her eyes were studying the flow of the gown. “Rubys, blacks, greys, hints of white.” Not normal wedding colors, but were Hades and I a normal bride and groom? “You’ll be the talk of the entire pantheon.” I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t deny that the gown was a wonder. “We could have it made, if you wish it so.” 

I nodded, the gown seemed right, somehow. I took a deep breath, no more half answers or wishy washy ideas. “Yes, I want that gown.” Hestia smiled, seeing something she clearly liked and approved of in my face. “Now, let’s plan a wedding in the underworld.” 

By ‘planning’, Hestia and I were technically choosing ideas for the wedding. Nothing could be planned until Hades tied up his loose thread and my father gave his approval. I had seen, during my short tour outside, that Hades’ domain wasn’t barren. While the Fields of Asphodel seemed less than pleasant, the grass grew around the palace, I had seen hints of gardens peeking at me, and with seven rivers there would be plenty of growth if I chose to add to it. 

Of course flowers would play a role in our wedding, as would gemstones. Pieces of two beings brought together to make a couple, because that’s what we would be, that’s what marriage was, right? 

Hestia stared at me when I made that correlation and I had doubts. “What?” I felt self conscious. The way her eyes were sparkling and her lips were quirking. “What, Hes?” 

“I think you spent more time with the mortals than we realized.” She muttered, she sighed. “Maybe you’re right though,” it was said more to herself than me, as her fingers traced the pattern of the gown. “Maybe this is how it is supposed to be.” 

Hades joined us soon after, eyes landing on the rolled up parchment in Hestia’s hand. “Do I get to ask, or is that going to fall under a feminine mystery?” She grinned and the parchment vanished. “That answers that.” His attention focused on me, and I bit my lip. “Now then, my future wife,” the way his eyes held mine hostage and helped create a tiny little intimate bubble made it simple to forget that we weren’t alone. “It feels like I have been apart from you for far too long.” 

My back met the wall beside the table where I studied the parchments even as my fingers were sliding into his hair. Hestia? Who was that? His mouth was on mine and we WERE alone, entirely, as we tasted and tempted. It didn’t matter if we’d been separated for minutes or hours, only that we’d been apart, the need for one another was so great that he needn’t worry about me remembering my powers or their range, since we were bare, joined and pounding together in the library without witnesses, since my aunt had made herself scarce as soon as his eyes met mine. 

He had me curled on his lap, still as bare as the day of our births, in front of the cold fireplace. His long tapered fingers were sliding down my back as my own fingers were teasing at the dark hair on his chest. “I crave you,” I whispered, my lips moving against his skin. “When you aren’t here, in front of me, I’m almost fine.” His muscles were tensing under my mouth. “And then you’re here and all I can think of-”

Hades moved, turning me so my legs on either side of his, straddling him. “Is how fast our clothing can be removed?” His mouth met mine after he used his hand on the back of my neck to tip my head back to make it easier for him. “Or how soon I can have your legs around my waist?” He moved again and I moaned as I felt every inch of him slide into me. “How long will it take to hear my name on your lips?” His mouth was ghosting mine, tempting me, teasing, but I couldn’t focus on it, not when my entire being was centered on where we were joined. He was being slow and steady, torturously so, and I was whimpering with need. “Tell me, Princess, tell me what you want.” 

My lips were dry, my throat parched with want, for him. “Please, Hades,” I pleaded, my eyes locking on his pitch black orbs. “Please.” 

It was enough, at least by my king’s standards, since his mouth claimed mine, giving me a quenching taste of him that sated at least that thirst. My arms wrapped around him as his hands moved to my waist to help move me, work me in a way that would bring both of us to a completion that seemed just out of my reach without his large able hands to guide me. And as I moved closer to the edge with him, he pulled his mouth free, pressed his forehead to mine so our eyes locked and talked me through it, with him.

“Look at me, Persephone, that’s right.” His eyes weren’t simply black, they’d ringed with the molten gold that I loved and I watched as his fingers were digging into my hips. “I want to see you when it happens, darling.” I bit my lip, feeling it begin, the rise of it. A feeling I’d never been able to explain, not to Mil, not to anyone, and with Hades it was amplified. “There it is,” he let his nose nudge mine gently. “I love you, Seph,” I sighed, it was the first time he’d used my nickname. “I love you and I will have you for my own.” And with another thrust it happened, the rush that I’d felt building crashed over, taking me and him along with me. 

“Hades,” I breathed, through my need to catch my breath, shaking with the latest shattering coupling that we had. “Hades,” I said it again, his name, his domain and realm, HIM. “Hades,” his eyes opened, staring at me through fully warm caramel eyes crinkled with mirth. “Hades,” I bit my lip and he shook his head. “I love you.” 

“I thought you forgot who I was,” he chuckled, his hands running up my body to hold my face steady so he could study me again. “You love me, Seph?” I smiled, head tilted as I stared into the face of the god I loved. “Took you long enough.” I laughed, leaning in to kiss him and feeling, for once, like perhaps things could finally go right for me. Maybe.


	16. Chapter 16

Planning a wedding in the Underworld wasn’t as difficult as I thought it might be, not with Hestia at my side and with the shades, who could be seen if asked, working in tandem to aid in making the day worthy of Hades and the goddess he chose to make his queen. My gown was coming along, Hes promised, the foods with ambrosia and nectar liberally included were being brought from far and wide according to my future husband.

My father, seemingly settled on the union of his Kora and his least favorite brother, was supplying anything that Hestia could petition him for, while my mother was being too silent for me to feel safe. 

“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” Hades would breath into my hair, his body tight against the back of me. “Perhaps Demeter is simply coming to terms with us.” 

Or, I thought, as a white petal drifted onto the pillow next to my nose, she was gearing up for a crescendo of epic proportions. 

I was out with Than and Cerberus, a pocketful of treats keeping the playful pup from knocking me down and giving me a full slobbery bath. Walking along the winding rivers of Hades, the god of death was pointing out the finer details of my new home. We were along the bank of one of the rivers, I’d lost place of which one wound into which, when I heard her tinkling voice.

“He’s told me that it’s over, that he’s marrying HER.” The sneer in the naiad’s voice was carrying and clear. “Well, I KNOW Hades. Right now he’s being diverted by her new goddess look and smell, BUT once that wears off? He’ll be back, and I’ll be right here, and then RIGHT there with him. And she can go back to her-”

Than tried to stop me. Cerb barked and growled a warning. All I can say is that I now know precisely what happens when the first violet colored petal falls. Minthe would tell you too, but she’s indisposed at the moment, and for the foreseeable future. 

Apparently when most people get angry, they see red. I see purple. And then the object of my rage gets pounded into a leafy green mint plant. On the other hand, now she’s useful for garnish.

I was in the library, strangely calm after my little run in with Minthe. Or is it just MINT now? I was considering the change, though not with much strain while I thumbed through another book when Hades found me. 

“I hear you had a productive day, Seph.” I glanced up to see him trying to keep a smirk from growing on his lips. 

I shrugged and flipped the page. “Than and I took Cerb for a walk so he could show me more of my new home, darling.” My eyes were on the page, but I wasn’t reading or even taking in the subject, mostly I wanted to see Hades’ reaction to his former paramour’s new condition. 

“So I heard. Did you run across anyone interesting?” Another shrug from me had him taking the chair across from me. “Persephone, princess, is a shrug really all you have for me?” 

I closed my book and faced him. His lips had lost the battle and the smirk was a full blown smile and I had to take a minute to catch my breath. Gods, Hades was breathtaking when he smiled. “You look pleased, Hades,” I studied him. “Are you happy I took care of the ONE thing I asked you to handle?” 

His smile fell and I almost rushed to take away the sting of my accusation. “I did speak to her,” he shook his head. “She seemed to listen, but-”

I bit my lip because he truly didn’t understand the pull of him. Why Minthe would want to believe that she could win him back, or why he was WORTH the chance. “It doesn’t matter, Hades, she’s been dealt with, and she’s MUCH more pleasant now.”

“She’s a plant, Seph.” His lips were twitching again and I shook my head as he tried to look serious. “How pleasant can a plant be?”

“Well,” I stood up and set my book on the seat of my chair before moving to his. He opened his arms and I sat down on his lap because I hadn’t lied when I told him that being in his presence made the NEED to touch him almost unbearable. “She’s a mint plant, Hades, so she SMELLS amazing now AND if I’m feeling particularly cruel, we can always pluck her leaves and use her as seasoning.” 

He was chuckling as he leaned in to kiss me, and once our lips met the flames of lust flickered to life fully and nothing, I mean nothing, would have stopped us from joining together again. And again.  
With Minthe-Mint down to the ground, the planning hit a fever pitch. Most of the events that the Olympians attended were either held on the mortal plane, where gods and goddesses such as my mother and I dwelled, or on Olympus where my father set up house and home. Having a wedding in the Underworld was something of a massive undertaking. Saying Hades didn’t entertain wasn’t simply an understatement. The Underworld was equated with death, punishment, and judgement, all things that immortals never wish to think about unless they’re doling them out.

Hestia, something of a maverick and a bit of a rebel, was in her element. She wanted my wedding to show her siblings and extended family that hearth and home could be ANYWHERE that love was sewn. While I pored over books and parchments of flora that I’d never seen, but clearly had once existed, she was working on delicacies and decorations that utilized the wealth that her brother ruled. 

As the day drew near, Hades and I were almost vibrating with excitement. Nothing seemed to be going against plan. The flowers, which I’d been focusing on growing close to the banks of the rivers nearest the palace, were a mix of those I knew and those I’d come across from the library. Hes walked me through the vision she was creating with the gemstones and the obsidian that made up the Underworld decor, how she planned to showcase them in a way that would play off my blossoms and weave the god of the Underworld to the goddess of spring. 

We both got to taste the recipes that she’d concocted with the help from unnamed sources, Hades feeding me bites and using the same spoon or fork, causing Hes to roll her eyes and warn us that she wasn’t going to interrupt the taste testing every time we had a twinge in our nether regions. 

It wasn’t until, a few days before the date we’d chosen, a day that I was finally allowed to see and try on my gown for the first time that we first became aware of just how not well my mother was taking our impending marriage.


	17. Chapter 17

Hestia called me into what had been the guest room that Hades gave me when I first arrived. Hanging from the canopy of the bed, looking more like gossamer than fabric, was my gown. We’d chosen the colors that Hes and I spoke about in the library. Grey, black, ruby, and white, and while the jewel-like shine of it sparkled, it also looked as though it would be painted on my skin and not held up by any means discernible by the naked eye. 

“Come on, Seph,” she was as excited as me, I swear. “Let’s see what it looks like on you.” 

It took very careful handling, but somehow the two of us managed. Once it was in place, I stood back, barefoot the dress was pooled around my feet overflowing like a flooded river. “Well?” 

Hestia was staring, her eyes wide and glistening. “Persephone,” she breathed, “you look like a goddess.” 

The dress was tucked away in the closet of Hestia’s rooms, a matching pair of heels that would make it easier for me to walk without tangling myself in the clutch of beading and fall of the gown. We talked about hairstyles and were walking toward the library before dinner when I heard the murmur of voices and knew something was going on out of the ordinary. 

As I said, Hades didn’t entertain. At the most, the amount of chatter that could be heard would come from three to four voices, so hearing what amounted to a full council coming from the dining room had Hes and I moving at a faster clip forward. My mouth dropped open when we entered the room. 

While I could tell that they weren’t physically present, seeing my father, his wife, my brothers, and the other Olympians gathered around our dining room table flickering as the projections they were while they ranted at one another about something while Hades sat and listened with his eyes focused on the table top. I’d no more than stepped over the threshold when all eyes seemed to focus on me, including my groom’s. 

“There she is,” Hera sighed, “Persephone, you really must-”

“Nothing,” Hades said, voice quiet yet deep and commanding, silencing his sister and any further noise. “She MUST do nothing, Hera.” His eyes met mine and I walked calmly to his side. “We will discuss this, alone, and once we have, I’ll let you all know what has been decided.” 

“Hades,” my father started, but a glance from my husband-to-be silenced him as well. “Very well, Kora,” I found my father and was surprised to see him smiling at me. “Take heart, darling girl, this too shall pass.” What the- They flickered and were gone, leaving Hestia and Hades alone with me. 

“Come here,” Hades pulled me onto his lap after pushing his chair away from the table. He sighed as he buried his face in my loose hair. “You might as well sit too, Hestia. Demeter has made her move, and it’s as fucked up as can be.” 

My mother, in a temper tantrum that would make most toddlers envious, was wreaking havoc on the world. If Hades and I were planning on going through with our marriage, against her will and wants, then she would starve mortals. Famine would be our wedding gift, widespread and flooding our realm with the dead. 

“She wants me to release you from my clutches, from my brainwashing, from the captivity I have you kept in.” I was calming myself by running my fingers through the soft hair at the nape of his neck, thinking that there wasn’t a softer part of him exposed while he was fully clothed. “If I don’t release you, let you go and free you from your bounds, then she will let the mortals starve. She promises that Charon won’t be able to keep up with the demands, that Thanatos won’t be able to fulfill his duties, that I’ll have to sit in judgement to keep the lines moving.” 

My heart felt like someone was squeezing it, that finally I’d found what would kill an immortal. This, whatever it was, was the end. “She hates me so much that she wants me to be unhappy in everything.” I shook my head. “She wants me alone, or at least paired with someone I can find no love or peace with, why?”

“My sister,” Hestia offered, reminding me that she was still with us, so quiet she’d kept. “Has always wanted to be more important than she appears. Having you with Zeus, she assumed, a daughter of the KING of the GODS would elevate her, but no, that didn’t work. Then, instead of you being given the gift of a lesser goddess, you were given fertility, life, spring. She gets grain and harvest. It stings, Seph, for a goddess to be outshone by her entire family, including her own child.” I stared at my aunt, the one person who had helped me back from the darkness. “This though? Too far, even for the sting she feels.” 

“What do we do?” I turned back to Hades, hoping he had something, anything to fix this without forcing us apart. “I want to stay with you. I love you.”

Sighing, he closed his eyes and leaned forward so our foreheads touched. “I don’t know, Seph, but I can’t lose you. Not now.”


	18. Chapter 18

Hades and I retired to our room not long after our extended family decided to show up and tell us all about just how horribly my mother was taking our wedding announcement. Hestia promised that there was a path forward, that there was hope, that we’d find it. Somehow.

“Come here,” his voice, that rumble so deep and dark, yet so soothing pulled me to him in a way that his hands and arms couldn’t. “I know you think that I don’t know Demeter as well as you do, Persephone.” I was cradled in his arms, while he sat with his back against the headboard of our bed, my cheek against his chest with his fingers sliding through my loose curls. “You forget that we spent plenty of years in VERY close quarters.” A giggle built, the easy way he spoke about the reality of their childhood always struck me. “Being who we are, being what we are gives us this urge to show the world and humanity that we are great and mighty. What it truly shows is that we are small and tantrum prone.” 

“She’s willing to kill mortals by the masses, Hades.” I shook my head at how horrible her rage was, how terrible and exacting she planned on being because I wanted to be with the god I loved and not one she chose for me. “She is willing to rage and murder simply to force me-”

“No,” he didn’t raise his voice, he didn’t have to. Using one long tapered finger placed under my chin, he tilted my head up so our eyes could meet. “She will NOT force you to do a single thing, do you understand me?” My mouth fell open to argue, but he refused to allow it. “No, Seph, what WE choose is what SHE will accept. We will plan our wedding, we will join our lives, and we will tell HER what happens from that moment on. Any negotiation will be at our leisure, do you understand?” 

“Mother will kill those who were closest to me first, Hades.” Mel, her family, any mortal that had ever shown me kindness or loyalty. They’d be first to meet Thanatos, then Charon, hopefully to pass judgement and move on- not be stuck in the Fields, nor as invisible hands to serve at our table. “She promised to flood Hades with the dead, and when she sets her mind to a goal-”

“She will NOT force my hand, Persephone.” A flash of gold crossed the molten caramel of his eyes, his voice took a tone that I had heard described by others who’d been in my father’s midst often. Old as the earth, as Gaia or time itself, from his parents flowing through him, though the ichor that flowed through his veins came the power that I had only secondhand. “If Demeter wants a fight, she has chosen the wrong war to wage.” 

And so, we planned our wedding. The death toll rose, and the white petals that fell when I was close to losing control changed to the crimson that appeared when Adonis took his final breath in my arms. Pain, grief, loss, I felt it as the tide of the lost rolled in while Hes tried to keep me busy with the banality of choosing flowers, lighting, and other wedding choices that seemed ridiculous considering my mother’s temper tantrum continued to gain strength. 

I tried, daily to think of a way to negotiate her away from mass murder, while Hades tried to control the steady stream of shades, and the backup of souls that did have the toll to give Charon for the ferry across the river to judgement. 

I was in the library, alone for once, Hestia was off on an errand and Hades was dealing with his new daily struggle when I was startled by a visit from my father. 

“Kora,” he looked as stressed as the god I loved did, as I did as well, and as we took the chairs that Hades and I once sat in to discuss why I’d come to his domain, I wondered if he had come to demand that I return to Mother. “Have you and my brother come up with ANY way to calm Demeter from this complete disregard for human life?”

I shook my head, feeling for all the world like Atlas, the tension of holding the weight of the actual world on my shoulders holding me down and keeping me from finding the answer. “No, it seems like we go in circles.” I sighed, smiling despite myself when two wine glasses appeared and filled with liquid on the table between us. “Hades refuses to budge, swearing that she will bow to us, and I keep trying to find some middle ground that allows me a life with him, while keeping her from unleashing her full wrath.”

“I have a suggestion,” he took a sip from his glass, appreciating the wines that Hades’ cellars stocked. “Something must be done, my darling daughter, and soon.”

I nodded, and listened while my father laid bare his plan. A plan that wasn’t something I felt that anyone would find fully agreeable, but one that I hoped would appease us all so at least, for now, the mortals would be spared. Until a better option could be found, at least.

Hades looked exhausted when he joined me in our room for a quieter than usual dinner. I wanted us to be secluded, alone, when I explained what Father had come up with to calm Mother down. When he pulled me onto his lap, refusing to allow me to sit in my own chair while we ate, needing my weight, my skin, my touch to soothe him I hoped that meant he’d be more open to the idea. 

“Father came to see me today,” I offered, as I fed him a bite of roast meat. He chewed as he waited for me to go on. “He wanted to know if we’d come up with any ideas for how to get Mother calmed down before our wedding becomes populated by the dead.” 

“And what did my dear brother say when you told him that we haven’t gotten there yet?” He kept his eyes on me as he reached for his goblet, not dropping his gaze while he drank. “Knowing Zeus, his visit wasn’t simply for a check in.”

Choosing to take a beat to take my own bite, I also wanted a moment to collect my thoughts. Hades deserved to know the full story, but I wanted him to know why I thought Father’s idea was the best we had for the moment. A sip of wine and I finally felt ready.

“Mother isn’t going to stop, Hades, not because we throw our weight around and show her that together we can rule the Underworld even if she kills the entire human race.” I needed him to understand, at this point, my mother wasn’t going to stop. She would rage until she got what she wanted, or until she got enough of what she wanted that she could save face. “If we give her something that LOOKS like she won, without her actually winning, then she saves face. She’d put out feelers for a husband for me, Hades, she held auditions. You weren’t on the list. No one is going to buy that she CHOSE you, not after she threw out the rumor that you kidnapped me.” It was true, we heard that soon after the entire godly family tree showed up. My mother told the world that Hades had snatched me and brainwashed me into staying. 

“What path gives her the ability to pretend that she wins, Princess?” His hand was running up my back, the other cupping my hip and he didn’t look irritated, he looked interested. “It had better be one that has you as my wife, because anything less is unacceptable.” It came out hungry and yearning and I felt a familiar urge of my own growing.

“I’ll be your wife, Hades,” I leaned closer, needing to taste him, like I needed food, water, air. Our lips met, our tongues touched, and for a moment we forgot the conversation. But only a moment, we both knew that it was simply to give us a holding point. A moment, that’s all. Pulling back, I bit my lip, thinking that I’d have to be chained in Tartarus to be kept from marrying him, from loving him. “A split year. Six months in the Underworld with you, during autumn and winter, and six months on earth during spring and summer.”   
His eyes narrowed and I thought I lost him, but then he smiled, clearly seeing the loophole I’d created in the way I voiced it. “Six months above ground? Cerberus does enjoy playing in the sunlight.” I giggled as he lifted me in his arms and carried me to our bed. “Be very careful how you offer this to her, Seph.” He lowered me to my feet and started undressing me with the urgency that had started before our lips met for that brief kiss. “If she closes the loophole-”

My own hands were pulling his clothing free as well, even as I nodded my understanding. “I’m well aware, which is why Father plans on being with us.” Hades’ skin was coming bare as fast as mine and I knew we’d both be diverted soon enough. “We’ll be together, she’ll get to say she got her way-”

“I love you,” he murmured as his lips met mine.

I hummed my agreement as he lifted me onto the bed and then our bodies joined and we started dessert.


End file.
